Egypt index negative, TMG gains

Egypt's main index slips into negative territory by mid-session despite Talaat Moustafa Group gaining 3.5 per cent on high turnover as investors bet the firm's former chairman gains a stay on his death sentence. "The index wants to go down but every day there is something keeping it up. Yesterday it was OT, today it is TMG," says Teymour el-Derini from Naeem brokerage. The only other gainer on the index is Maridive, up 0.7 per cent. The index is weighed by Commercial International Bank, Orascom Telecom and EFG-Hermes. Pakistan's central bank said EFG-Hermes had sought permission to perform due diligence on Royal Bank of Scotland's Pakistan unit, which had not yet been granted. "Global confidence is weakening, and I guess investors are jittery about the market at current levels," says Ashraf Akhnoukh from CIBC Brokerage, adding that both CIB and EFG rallied sharply in the past few sessions. The index dips below the 7,000 point level breached on Wednesday, trading 0.6 per cent lower at 6,997 points. Naeem's Derini says volumes are low apart from the traffic through TMG.