CAIRO: The bourse opened strongly on Wednesday as investors shrugged off bomb attacks in the coastal resort of Dahab two days ago, but two mid-session bombings in north Sinai wiped early gains, traders said. The latest attacks hit stocks across the board, but traders said the market lost relatively little ground. Orascom Hotels and Development, a stock closely tied to tourism, fell 6.1 percent to LE 38.02 ($6.61). The market started off very strongly. The impact of the Dahab incidents was pretty much absorbed. Then we had the further (north Sinai) incidents. There was a lot of uncertainty, Yasser Hassanein of Dynamic Securities said. The benchmark Hermes index fell 1024.19 points, or 1.8 percent, to 55,906.33 points. The broader CIBC index fell 1.4 percent to 228.27 points. The well-watched CASE 30 index fell 1.63 percent to 6,532.36 points. It could have been worse. Overall we were pleased with the market s performance today, Hassanein added. Investment bank EFG-Hermes, a retail investor favorite, dropped LE 2.02, or 3.3 percent, to LE 58.50 on panic selling. We didn t get any sell orders from large investors, one trader said.

Telecom Egypt, also largely a retail stock, fell 5.7 percent to LE 14.2. Reuters