CAIRO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Egypt's main index dropped for a ninth consecutive session on Monday as shares of Orascom Construction extended declines.
The CASE 30 index peaked at 4,371.09 points within 25 minutes of the start of trade, but declined steadily to close 1.89 percent lower at 4,219.24 points.
Mohamed Tawfiq of Delta Rasmala Securities said local buying boosted indexes before foreign investors took advantage of rising prices and sold holdings in market heavyweights like Orascom Construction and Orascom Telecom.
Both shares were the day's most heavily traded by value, and lost 6.67 percent to 115.65 pounds ($20.90) and 5.36 percent to 25.80 pounds, respectively.
Foreign selling was a reflection of a continuing distrust of equity markets in light of the ongoing financial crisis, said Mohamed Kotb of Naeem Brokerage.
Ezz Steel lost 6 percent to 9.39, investment bank EFG-Hermes lost 8.94 to 14.88 pounds, and Telecom Egypt fell 4 percent to 14.60 pounds.
Foreign investors were net sellers on Monday by 83 million Egyptian pounds.
Overall, the Hermes index lost 1.76 percent to 406.31 points and the broader CIBC index declined 1.12 percent to 299.4. ($1 = 5.5323 Egyptian pounds) (Writing by Aziz El-Kaissouni)