CAIRO: Egypt s tough new regulations to ensure the quality of wheat imports have raised the bar so high that it risks deterring some key suppliers. Egypt, one of the world s top importers, has been locked in a row over grain quality since an investigation was ordered into Russian wheat imported by an Egyptian …

CAIRO: Egypt’s benchmark stock index dipped 1.9 percent as developer Talaat Moustafa Group fell after a Cairo court ratified a death sentence against former chairman Hisham Talaat Moustafa. Shares dropped 4.7 percent after the court reiterated a death sentence for Moustafa over the murder-for-hire of a Lebanese singer. CI Capital Research said it expected the …

CAIRO: Orascom Telecom s chairman said on Tuesday that France Telecom, its partner in the jointly owned Egyptian mobile firm Mobinil, was in the business of value destruction. Naguib Sawiris comments in a Reuters interview are the latest in an acrimonious battle over Mobinil that has involved court arbitration and interventions by Egypt s market …

CAIRO: Egypt’s benchmark index EGX30 ended slightly lower, its sixth straight decline, in low volumes after late selling hit Ezz Steel and blue chip firms dipped into the negative after trading flat for most of the day. Ezz ended down almost 2 percent at LE 11.62 per share, after trading as high as LE 12.44. …

LONDON: Abu Dhabi government-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) has launched a $3.5 billion syndicated loan to support recent acquisitions, two banking sources close to the deal said. It is the first major new money loan in the Gulf this year, and is expected to act as a barometer for international banks appetite for syndicated …

CAIRO: Egypt s economic growth may reach an annualized rate of 4.5 percent in the second quarter of 2009, but it was still too early to say the economy had turned a corner, Egypt s finance minister said on Thursday. Things are beginning to pick up. The outlook is not as bleak as we thought, …

Egypt s Orascom Construction Industries said on Wednesday its joint venture with Al-Futtaim Carillion had secured a $340 million deal to build a retail center in Cairo. OCI s share of the contract is 35 percent or approximately $120 million. The project was awarded by the commercial and administrative arm of the Al-Futtaim Group, OCI …

CAIRO: Egypt s benchmark stock index fell for a third straight session on Wednesday, led by shares of real estate firm Talaat Moustafa Group. The main index shed 1 percent to 4,801.88 points. Talaat Moustafa, Egypt s largest developer by market value, retreated 4.59 percent to LE 3.74 ($0.66). Investment bank EFG-Hermes lowered its long …

DOHA: It is still too soon for OPEC to react to a sharp revision in the forecast for global oil demand from the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA), Qatar s Oil Minister said on Monday. It is too early to react, we ll have to wait and see, Abdullah Al-Attiyah told Reuters on the sidelines …

CAIRO: Egyptian shares rose on Tuesday for the fourth straight session as investors bet share prices were too low given earnings expectations, traders said. Optimism and confidence are gradually returning, said Hashem Ghoneim of Pyramids Capital. I think we had hit a bottom. Valuations cannot get cheaper; shares are virtually free. Shares in regional telecom …

CAIRO: Egypt’s benchmark stock index rose nearly three percent on Sunday after the country’s central bank slashed interest rates to support economic growth. The CASE 30 index, down 22 percent this year to Thursday’s close, gained 2.65 percent to 3,696.26 points. The central bank cut its key overnight interest rates by 100 basis points and …

CAIRO: Egypt s benchmark stock index, the CASE 30, dropped to a four-year low on Thursday as panicky retail investors reacted to the fall of new resistance levels, brokers said. Shares fell across the board on low volume and the brokers said sentiment about the overall economy was gloomy. But foreign investors were net buyers …

CAIRO: Egypt s benchmark index posted its sharpest single-day gain in nearly three months on Tuesday as investors bought shares of telecommunications and banking companies on expectations of strong earnings. Shares of Telecom Egypt, the largest Arab fixed-line telephone operator by subscribers, surged 7.01 percent to LE 14.65 ($2.63), their best day since Nov. 25. …

CAIRO: Shares of Ghabbour Auto, Egypt s largest car maker by market value, posted their second largest daily fall in two months on Sunday, weighing on Egypt s market, on fears profits could slow. Shares of the company, which said last year its profit growth could ease as Egypt s economy weakens, shed 6.14 percent …

Egyptian investment bank EFG-Hermes said it cut its long-term fair value estimate on Orascom Construction Industries because of volatility in oil and commodity prices. EFG-Hermes cut its estimated fair value of Orascom, Egypt s largest builder by market value, to LE 205 per share from LE 310.40 on Wednesday. Orascom shares, the worst performer this …

CAIRO: Egypt will exempt hotels from paying contributions to the country s tourism promotion authority and will cut fees paid by charter flights to help its tourism industry cope with the global financial crisis. The minister [of tourism Zoheir Garrana] has agreed to exempt hotel establishments from tourism promotion fees which the ministry collects from …

CAIRO: A surge of buying by institutional investors on market heavyweight Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) saw Egypt s benchmark CASE 30 index rise more than 3 percent on Tuesday. OCI actually led the market today. There was huge buying power apparent on the stock, mainly by foreign institutions, said Ahmed Abu Taleb, a trader at …

CAIRO: Orascom Construction Industries helped Egypt’s benchmark index CASE 30 close lower for a second straight session on Tuesday, following drops in foreign markets, traders said. “The sharp drops in the US and Europe yesterday increased bad sentiment in the market, and yesterday’s close was very bad, so there were expectations there would be a …

CAIRO: Egyptian stock indexes rose on Monday, energized by heavy buying across the board by retail investors riding a wave of renewed confidence in the market as global stocks surged, brokers said. The benchmark CASE 30 index gained 2.44 percent to close at 5,363.59 points, while the rival Hermes index gained 2.62 percent to 486.02 …

CAIRO: Egypt-based investment bank Beltone Financial has expanded into Libya by opening an office in Tripoli, Libya, the bank said on Saturday. Beltone Financial is providing a comprehensive suite of services in Tripoli including securities brokerage, asset management, investment, corporate restructuring and advisory services, the bank said in a statement. It added that it was …

CAIRO: Egypt s main stock index the CASE 30 closed slightly lower on Monday, as a dip in market heavyweight Orascom Construction Industries triggered light retail selling late in the session, dealers said. The benchmark CASE 30 index ended 0.68 percent lower at 5,732.82 points, while the widely watched Hermes index slipped 0.74 percent to …

CAIRO: The median overnight interbank rate on the Egyptian pound was steady at 11.9 percent on Thursday compared to 11.907 percent on Wednesday, dealers said. The central bank was scheduled to auction 273-day and 364-day treasury bills on Thursday, which traders said was keeping interbank rates high. We have been seeing some central bank interventions …

CAIRO: The Egyptian government may temporarily freeze prices some industries pay for energy to help Egypt s economy withstand a global financial crisis, the country s trade minister was quoted as saying on Thursday. The government was studying measures including fixing energy prices, increasing export insurance, and reducing transportation costs, state-owned Al-Ahram daily reported, citing …

CAIRO: Egypt’s central bank, seeking to reassure investors over Egypt’s exposure to the global financial crisis, said on Sunday its foreign currency reserves and the external positions of Egyptian banks were secure. Central Bank Governor Farouk El-Okdah put the overseas positions of Egyptian banks at around $15 billion, while he said the central bank’s foreign …

CAIRO: Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali said on Sunday that the country had gone through the worst phase of inflation, and lower global food prices would bring the inflation rate down. The worst is behind us in terms of inflation. We are just winding down what was in the system, he told reporters. Look at international …

CAIRO: Egyptian telecoms operator Orascom is looking at buying Telekom Austria and has been in touch with the company and the Austrian government, its main shareholder, a newspaper reported on Monday. Austrian daily Kurier said the deal could be structured as a merger of Orascom and Telekom Austria under which Austria s government holding company …

CAIRO: Morgan Stanley upgraded Telecom Egypt to “overweight from “equal weight on valuation and said tariff rebalancing in the second half of 2008 should help the company stabilize earnings. The investment bank cut its price target on Egypt’s monopoly fixed-line telephone company to LE 21 from LE 23. Morgan Stanley also cut its price target …