‘In terms of turnover, Heliopolis Housing, Sixth of October Development and Investment, and Alexandria Real Estate are the three major players,’ said Walaa Hazem of HC Securities.
Heliopolis Housing closed 4.2 percent higher at 532.75 Egyptian pounds ($93.46) a share, while Sixth of October shares rose 2.6 percent to close at 154 pounds, and Alexandria Real Estate closed 12.1 percent up at 485 pounds.
Housing stocks have been driven upwards recently by sky-rocketing land prices, Hazem said.
‘However the problem is that people are pushing the sector in general without any accurate transparency about each company’s land bank,’ he added.
Shares in investment bank EFG-Hermes, a favorite among retail investors, rose 1.5 percent to close at 45.48 pounds. The stock tends to be ‘very liquid’ and is usually among the most active stocks on the market, Hazem said.
Orascom Construction also saw a 0.7 percent rise to 366.50 pounds following an announcement that its Algerian unit Sorfert will build a $1.7 billion fertilizer production plant in Algeria. The plant will begin operating by 2010.
El Sewedy Cables also climbed after the company announced its intention to establish a smelter and refinery with a production capacity of 300,000 tons per annum. Shares rose 5.7 percent to close at 75 pounds.
El Sewedy announced last week plans to build a $50 million power transformer plant in Egypt, and in May it bought Egyptian firm Al Wataniya to expand its power cable production.
Overall, the benchmark Hermes Index rose 0.6 percent to close at 69,769.28 points, and the well-watched CASE30 Index gained 0.6 percent to 7,800.37 points. The broader CIBC index added 0.3 percent to end at 348.30 points.
