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Egyptian stocks follow global markets higher

CAIRO - Egyptian stocks broke two sessions of massive declines to follow Arab Gulf and international stock markets higher on Thursday, a day after coordinated global interest rate cuts.

Traders said local retail investors were the main force behind the market rally. Foreign investors continued to dump shares to secure liquidity needed in other markets, causing the the Egyptian pound to retreat against the U.S. dollar.

The benchmark CASE 30 index, which dropped nearly 25 percent in the last two sessions, gained 3.45 percent to 5,667.47 points. The Hermes index rose 4.18 percent to 514.50 points, while the broader CIBC ended 4.11 percent higher at 310.24 points.

"The market rallied sharply higher this morning on the back of global performance, actually Gulf performance," said Ashraf Akhnoukh, senior trader at CIBC.

"International investors are not thinking very much right now. They are just following the global trend. Everyone is very scared, everyone wants to realise whatever cash they have," Akhnoukh said.

Ezz Steel, the largest independent steel producer in the Middle East, jumped 22.08 percent to 15.37 Egyptian pounds ($2.79) after just 100 trades, Reuters data showed.

Commercial International Bank (CIB) rose nearly 5 percent to last trade 34.41 pounds a share.

Thursday's relative calm in global markets followed an unprecedented display of international coordination on Wednesday when the U.S. Federal Reserve and central banks from Europe, Canada and China cut rates in the face of plunging global equity markets and the worst financial crisis in some 80 years

Bucking the upward trend in Egypt was Orascom Telecom Holding (OT), which last traded 3.15 percent down at 33.50 pounds a share.

The decline followed a report by the rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded the outlook for the largest Arab mobile phone operator by subscribers to "negative" from "stable", citing economic weakness in Pakistan, where OT owns Mobilink.

The sell-off by foreign investors has caused the Egyptian pound to retreat by 0.65 percent against the U.S. dollar since October 5. The pound depreciated slightly against the greenback to 5.5095 on Thursday.

"It is definitely the stock market," one banker said. "Foreigners in the market are closing positions to cover shortages abroad," he said.