EFG Hermes powers Egypt

Egyptian stocks jumped yesterday after the country's biggest investment bank, EFG Hermes, upgraded the country's equity rating to overweight from neutral.

The EGX 30 Index rose 1.6 per cent to 5,697.48, bringing its yearly gain to 57.29 per cent.

Palm Hills Development Company, a luxury property developer, surged 7.8 per cent to 2.68 Egyptian pounds. Egyptian for Tourism Resorts, another developer, jumped 5.6 per cent to 1.32 pounds.

EFG Hermes added Commercial International Bank Egypt, the country's biggest publicly traded lender, and GB Auto to the "Middle East and North Africa Top 20" list. Commercial International is a "core play on an Egyptian economic recovery", while GB Auto should benefit from less pressure on the exchange rate and "a recovery in consumer sentiment" next year, the analysts wrote.

"Egypt will remain a news-driven market," said Tariq Qaqish, the deputy head of asset management at Al Mal Capital in Dubai. "It has been quite positive so far rather than negative and on a technical basis, it also looks good." In the UAE, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index added 0.1 per cent to 2,596.73, while the Dubai Financial Market General Index closed 0.02 per cent higher to 1,557.45.

Elsewhere in the region: Kuwait's measure lost 0.4 per cent to 5,826.21; Bahrain's Index fell 0.3 per cent to 1,072.51; Oman's MSM 30 Index dropped 0.7 per cent to 5,551.51; Qatar's index slipped 0.04 per cent to 8474.70.

The Saudi Tadawul closed up 0.2 per cent at 7,086.80.

* with Bloomberg News

halsayegh@thenational.ae