Egypt's main indexes rose on Sunday for the second straight session, with ASEC Mining (ASCOM) extending gains after announcing plans to increase its capital and expand in the region, brokers said. The stock added 6.8 percent to a 17 percent jump on Thursday after the company said it planned to buy an Algerian company and to increase its capital from 100 million Egyptian pounds ($18.7 million) to 250 million pounds. “Egyptian retailers were buying-in as the capital increase move solved the problem of lack of liquidity in the stock,” said Mohamed Fouad, the managing director at Global Securities. “ASEC is the only listed mining company and so it has become attractive,” he added. The stock last traded at 229.60 pounds. Shares in Torah Cement, Egypt's second biggest listed cement firm, also surged after the Capital Market Authority approved its plan for a 2-to-1 share split, brokers said. The stock last traded 13.3 percent higher at 171.99 pounds, crawling back from an all-time high price of 201 pounds during the session. Investment services company Al Ahly for Development and Investment, which was the second most-heavily traded stock by turnover, rose 5.1 percent to 76.01 pounds. The stock gained more than 22 percent since Tuesday on market speculation about a possible merger with Cairo Capital Group, an investment bank. Ahly for Development and Investment has denied receiving any offer. “The stock is overvalued but retailers are still expecting a corporate action,” Fouad said. Some big caps were also in the green such as Commercial International Bank (CIB), which rose 3.8 percent to 81.80 pounds and Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) which gained 1.5 percent to 384 pounds. Overall, the benchmark Case 30 index gained 1.3 percent to 10,803.04 points, while the Hermes index rose 1.2 percent to 93,421.23 points. The broader CIBC index rose 2.8 percent to 559.70 points.
