39 Articles
CAIRO: Egyptian Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali said on Monday he expected his country s economic growth to slow to between 4 and 4.5 percent in the 2008/09 fiscal year, from 7.2 percent a year earlier. The economy of the most populous Arab country is already reeling under the weight of the global financial crisis, with …
CAIRO: Main Egyptian stock indexes gained more than 1 percent on Wednesday, led by small cap shares, as investors seeking bargains lifted global markets from multi-year lows. Shares in El Kahera Housing rose 3.4 percent to LE 4.57 ($0.81) after investment bank Pioneers Holding said it was conducting a study on whether to buy a …
CAIRO: A two-year-old Egyptian boy has contracted the bird flu virus and is in critical condition, the state-run news agency quoted the Health Ministry as saying on Sunday, becoming the 56th case in the Arab country. The Middle East News Agency (MENA) quoted Assistant Health Minister Nasr El-Sayyed as saying the boy, Youssef Abdel-Azim from …
CAIRO: Key Egyptian stock indexes dropped nearly 3 percent on Tuesday in line with global stock markets, which fell as concerns about the world economy and corporate profits intensified. Traders also said investors were locking up profit on some Egyptian blue-chip shares, pulling the benchmark CASE 30 index down 2.95 percent to 3,625.60 points. The …
CAIRO: The Egyptian central bank cut its key overnight interest rates by 100 basis points, citing a fall in inflation and an expected economic slowdown, the state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported on Friday. The bank reduced overnight interest rates for deposit to 10.5 percent and to 12.5 percent for lending in the first …
CAIRO: Egyptian Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali said on Sunday his country was looking at a serious contraction in economic growth because of the global financial crisis. All the interaction with the outside world is coming practically to a standstill. Our exports are dropping, tourism is dropping, Suez Canal receipts are dropping, workers remittances are dropping, …
CAIRO: Shares in Commercial International Bank (CIB) gained 7.31 percent on market expectations of strong full-year earnings, helping Egypt s benchmark stock index rise 1 percent on Wednesday. Traders said foreign investors helped push the market up, emerging as the session s only net buyers by about LE 93 million ($16.7 million). Shares in CIB, …
CAIRO: Foreign investors snapped up shares of Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), helping Egypt’s benchmark stock index rise 0.72 percent on Monday, traders said. Shares in OCI, Egypt’s largest listed builder, last traded 5.94 percent higher at LE106 ($19.06), ending a two week losing streak. The shares had shed 28.7 percent in the year to Sunday’s …
CAIRO: Shares of Orascom Telecom (OT), the biggest Arab mobile phone operator by subscribers, fell 7.6 percent on Tuesday to drag key Egyptian stock indexes down in line with global markets. Traders said negative sentiment dominated the market after European and Asian shares fell on bleak corporate earnings. Shares in OT last traded at LE …
CAIRO: Ezzat Abdel-Rahman says Palestinians are suffering great injustice at the hands of Israel but they should have followed Egypt s lead and long ago made peace with the Jewish state. He also says Egypt should not open its border with Gaza to let Palestinians flee the six-day Israeli assault, as demanded by Hamas and …
CAIRO: Main Egyptian stock indexes were nearly flat in quiet trade on Sunday, with investors hunting for bargains buying into Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), traders said. Shares in OCI, Egypt s largest listed builder, rose more than 1 percent before crawling back towards the end of the session to last trade at LE 126 ($22.82), …
CAIRO: Egypt s tourism industry, the country s top hard currency earner, has started to feel the pinch of the global financial crisis, with hotel bookings down 30 percent in January 2009 compared to the same month in 2008. Fathi Nour, chairman of state-owned Misr Hotels, one of the country s biggest hotel firms, said …
CAIRO: The Egyptian central bank said on Sunday it was not against easing monetary policy, but would only do this at the right time, raising expectations it may leave key overnight interest rates unchanged this week. Central Bank Governor Farouk El-Okdah told a news conference the bank expects inflation to begin dropping to acceptable rates …
CAIRO: Profit-taking on mobile phone operator and market mainstay Orascom Telecom (OT) sent the two main Egyptian stock indexes slightly lower on Thursday in light trade, brokers said. The biggest Arab mobile phone operator by subscribers last traded 1.7 percent lower at LE 28.38 ($5.14). The Cairo-based group said last week it would start operations …
CAIRO: Main Egyptian stock indexes followed European shares higher on Thursday ahead of a long Muslim holiday, with mobile phone operator Mobinil soaring 13 percent. We were mainly following markets in Europe, said Ashraf Akhnoukh of CIBC Brokerage. But it is a fake rally because the volumes were very low, he said. Shares in Mobinil …
CAIRO: Market rallies in the United States and Asia helped Egypt s benchmark CASE 30 stock index jump nearly 5 percent on Tuesday, with investment bank EFG-Hermes soaring 13.51 percent. Shares in Egypt s largest investment bank by market value, which tumbled nearly 80 percent this year to Monday s close, last traded at LE …
CAIRO: Main Egyptian stock indexes snapped an eight-session losing streak to end slightly higher on Sunday, with investors chasing bargain prices on companies including Orascom Telecom. Shares in the biggest Arab mobile phone operator by subscribers, down nearly 80 percent this year to Thursday s close, last traded 2.95 percent up at LE 22.30 ($4.02). …
CAIRO: The world economic crisis could lead to a repeat of the unrest that broke out in Egypt earlier this year if the government fails to cushion millions of poor people from its impact. A new bout of discontent is unlikely to threaten the survival of the government. But it could discourage investment, which has …
CAIRO: Main Egyptian stock indexes followed Arab Gulf markets down on Sunday, with investment bank EFG-Hermes hit after posting a steep decline in third-quarter net profit last week. Shares in EFG-Hermes fell 6.42 percent to last trade LE 18.50 ($3.34). The largest investment bank in Egypt by market value said on Thursday net profit fell …
CAIRO: Regional mobile phone operator Orascom Telecom rose 5.65 percent on Monday on plans to buy back shares, helping lift main Egyptian stock indexes for the second straight session. Shares in the biggest Arab mobile phone operator by subscribers last traded at LE 36.11 ($6.48) after it said it was planning to buy back 23.59 …
CAIRO: Egyptian shares followed global markets higher on Monday after governments across the world took new measures to rescue troubled banks and Egypt s pledge to guarantee lenders and deposits. Market heavyweight Orascom Construction Industries gained 5.54 percent to last trade at LE 238.85 ($43.19). Regional mobile phone operator Orascom Telecom jumped 7.85 percent to …
CAIRO: Turmoil in global equity markets hit Egypt s main stock indexes on Tuesday for the second straight session, traders said, with the benchmark CASE 30 falling nearly 3 percent. This is just in line with global markets. People are panicked, says Hashem Ghoneim of El Nour Securities. Global stocks fell on Tuesday while demand …
CAIRO: Rising food prices drove inflation in urban parts of Egypt above market forecasts to 23.6 percent in the year to August, piling pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates for the sixth time this year. The figure, a fresh 16-year-high, compares to 22.0 percent in the year to July, the state-run statistics …
CAIRO: Egyptian shares rose 1.66 percent on Monday, with Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG) jumping more than 7 percent with investors betting the share price is low relative to future earnings. Shares in the company, down 50 percent this year to Sunday s close, last traded at LE 7.16 ($1.32), ending the day in the green …
CAIRO: Egypt’s central bank, which has already raised overnight interest rates by 225 basis points this year, is seen likely to increase them again, by at least 50 bps, by the end of 2008 as it battles inflation at a 16-year high. Five out of eight economists interviewed by Reuters on Tuesday and Wednesday said …
Reuters EL-AJRA, Egypt: The men gathered around the fire under a clear sky studded with stars. Youssef Ali had checked on his loaded Kalashnikov rifle as he prepared to spend another night in the desert, his home for the past six years. “I don t sleep without my Kalashnikov next to me, said the 37-year-old, …
Reuters CAIRO: Egypt has diversified its foreign exchange reserves over the past 18 months by cutting its holding of U.S. dollars to around 57 percent of the total from more than 90 percent, central bank Governor Farouk El-Okdah said on Monday. The weighting of reserve currencies now matched the country s debts and trading pattern, …
Reuters CAIRO: Egyptian bloggers have come into the spotlight, on the one hand as an important forum for political debate, on the other as the target of government attempts to limit their freedom of expression. Earlier this month, Abdel-Karim Suleiman, a 22-year-old former law student at Al-Azhar Islamic university, became the first Egyptian jailed for …
Reuters CAIRO: Egypt rejected on Sunday imposing any conditions on the new Palestinian unity government and said it was up to the Palestinians to convince key international mediators to end the US-led financial sanctions. Jordan s King Abdullah has said there was common Arab ground that the unity government must adhere to the demands of …
Reuters CAIRO: Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said on Friday several European states have pledged to send money to the new Palestinian government, adding that key peace mediators could also challenge the US decision to shun the Palestinians. Meshaal said the United States was not able any more to convince other members of the Quartet of …