CAIRO: Egyptian stocks fell on Wednesday after retail investors sold on technicals, but bigger stocks were supported by foreigners and institutions trading on fundamentals, traders said.

There s no fundamental news, just a technical reason… Yesterday, the 6,185 points level, if broken on the downside is a sign to sell, a trader who declined to be named said, referring to the well-watched Case 30 index.

The index ended the session down 1.1 percent at 6,083.96 points. The benchmark Hermes index finished 1 percent down at 53,344.08 points. The broader CIBC index dipped 0.6 percent to 237.35 points.

Stocks popular with retail investors were hit, including investment bank EFG-Hermes, which fell 4.2 percent to 41.1 Egyptian pounds ($7.16), and Arabia Cotton Ginning, which fell 3.3 percent to 12.67 pounds.

Larger stocks more popular with foreigners and institutions were shielded from retail selling, as buyers were focusing on fundamentals, traders said.

Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) dipped 0.3 percent to 235.2 pounds, and Commercial International Bank (CIB) fell 0.7 percent to 43.52 pounds.

Today OCI and CIB almost closed flat, which shows how much foreign interest there is, Mohamed Radwan of Delta Securities said. Reuters