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Egypt stock market hits 5-year high

Egypt’s stock market reached a new, five-year high, pushing to levels since the 2008 global economic crisis despite ongoing political turmoil and unrest in the country.

The country’s main stock index, the EGX30, closed up at 8,459.38 points. That’s a 24.7 per cent increase for the last year.

Exchange spokesman Hesham Turk said that the EGX30 reached levels Wednesday higher than on September 9, 2008 — a peak before the global financial crisis and the 2011 revolt that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Dubai bourse was the second strongest major market in the region, on Thursday, adding 1.1 per cent to 4,304 points on the back of Dubai Investments Co, which jumped five per cent, and Dubai Islamic Bank, which rose 3.1 per cent.

Traders said investors buying Dubai Investments may have been expecting announcements on its large land bank in the emirate, where the property market is booming.

The companies that drove the market up earlier this week, Emaar Properties and Arabtec Holding, appear to have run out of steam and moved little on Thursday.

The market extended its gains after Reuters quoted a partner at buyout firm GrowthGate Capital as saying it planned to take freight-forwarding company Able Logistics Group public on the Dubai Financial Market around the end of this year; the DFM has not seen any IPOs since 2009.

In Abu Dhabi, the index fell 1.1 per cent to 4,785 points largely because of the banking sector.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank fell 3.4 per cent after its shares went ex-dividend. Some other banks retreated after rallying earlier this week on the news that Dubai’s $20 billion bailout package had been rolled over.