Egypt Market Rebounds Slightly

Egyptian stocks ended the day in the green, offsetting some of the losses seen within the last two days, with the benchmark EGX30 index gaining 0.42 percent to alight at 5,263 points. The broader-based EGX70 index, meanwhile, rose by 0.44 percent.

the market fell by a combined 5.5 percent after a travel ban was imposed on the founder and CEO of construction giant Orascom Construction Industries (Onsi and Nassef Sawiris), Egypt's largest listed company.

"Rebounds are common following serious losses, as deflated share prices make them more attractive to buyers," said Ashraf Abdel-Aziz, head of institutional sales at Cairo-based brokerage Arabeya Online. He added that share prices remained low even after Wednesday's gains.

Blue-chip Commercial Bank of Egypt led the market upward, rising 1.4 percent. Notably, OCI also gained, rising in value by 0.28 percent to close the day out at LE247.5. Shares in Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH), meanwhile, slumped by 0.97 percent following the announcement of the company's relatively poor 4Q 2012 financial results.

Ezz Steel, for its part, lost 2.24 percent after a criminal court slapped company owner Ahmed Ezz with 37 years in prison – and a LE2 billion fine – on corruption charges. Ezz, who was arrested shortly after Egypt's 2011 revolution, had been a leading member of ousted president Hosni Mubarak's now-defunct National Democratic Party. Of 163 listed stocks, 77 registered gains on Wednesday while 49 lost value. Total daily turnover, meanwhile, amounted to LE375 million.

Foreign and Egyptian investors were net sellers for the day, offloading some LE60.2 million and LE12.5 million in shares respectively. Arab investors were the day's only net buyers, picking up LE72.69 million worth of shares.