Egyptian shares ended lower on Sunday after Orascom Telecom (OT) came under pressure from recent downbeat news including comments that the firm expected subscriber growth to dip in 2004, traders said.
They said the market was also weaker on continued uncertainty about the direction of interest rates.
The market has fallen steadily since hitting four-year highs earlier this month amid talk the central bank could hike rates.
The benchmark Hermes index closed down 145.98 points, or 1.1 percent, at 12,908.85 points. The broader CIBC index slipped 0.33 points to close at 82.10 points.
"The confidence of investors is not there. They don't yet have the signals that would end the bearish sentiment," said Mohamed Radwan of Delta Securities, adding that an announcement on the fate of interest rates would help ease uncertainty.
OT was among the heavyweight fallers on Sunday, sliding four percent, which one trader said followed comments by OT's chairman to Reuters on Thursday after the close of weekly trading that he expected subscriber growth to dip in 2004.
Another trader said the firm's failure to secure an mobile licence in Iran was also helping weigh down the stock, although the firm told Reuters it was relieved not to have won the licence partly because of regulatory and political uncertainty.
The stock last traded down 3.98 Egyptian pounds ($0.64) at 96 pounds. The official close was 97.55 pounds.
Traders said there was little other stock specific news impacting the market.
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