Egypt’s main index gained for a fourth straight session but its rise was muted by late selling on a host of leading stocks including Orascom Telecom (OT) and Commercial International Bank (CIB).

Heavyweight OT lost 0.2 percent, after opening strongly. CIB ended down 1 percent after trading as much as 1.1 percent higher.

"I expect we will slow down a little bit starting today as we have to have some profit-making," said Karim Hosny of Pharos Securities.

Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) added 0.9 after trading 1.7 percent higher earlier in the day and Ezz Steel closed up 1.5 percent, paring a 2.6 percent gain as of midday.

The index closed up 0.4 percent at 6,547 points. It had traded as high as 6,601 points.