Egypt indexes fall on profit-taking, cement ruling

CAIRO, Aug 26 (Reuters) – Profit-taking and a court ruling to fine 20 executives in cement companies for anti-competition practices sent Egyptian shares down on Tuesday, ending three sessions of in the green, traders said.

Shares in Suez Cement last traded 3.76 percent lower to 35.86 Egyptian pounds ($6.68), while Sinai Cement fell 4.04 percent to 46.55 pounds. Tora Cement skidded 9.28 percent to 108.35 pounds.

National Cement, the only state-owned cement firm in Egypt, was 0.79 percent down to last trade at 20 pounds.

"Yesterday's ruling, combined with the decline in international cement prices, is seen to drive local prices down," said Mohamed Kotb, investment manager at Jazira Asset Management.

A Cairo court fined 20 cement industry executives 10 million Egyptian pounds ($1.9 million) each on Monday for violations of the monopolies law and price fixing.

The decision also affected shares in Ezz Steel, said Wafik Dawood, Senior Account Executive at Naeem Brokerage.

"People think that if this was the case for cement, it could be happening also for Ezz which is also investigated for alleged monopoly practices," he added. Shares in the company dropped 2.44 percent to 24.34 pounds.

Real estate developer Talaat Moustafa lost 1.21 percent to last trade at 6.52 pounds, while Orascom Telecom dropped 0.89 percent to 52.50 pounds.

Overall, Egypt's benchmark CASE 30 index closed 0.96 percent lower at 8,080.41 points. The widely-watched Hermes index fell 0.92 percent to 708.06 points. The broader CIBC 100 index also lost 1.40 percent to 380.28 points. ($1 = 5.3685 Egyptian pounds)