CAIRO: Egypt's benchmark CASE 30 index fell nearly 2 percent on Monday as investors sold shares of real estate companies on concerns profits could fall.

The index, which has lost 24 percent this year to Sunday's close, shed 1.81 percent to 3,421.14 points.

Shares of Heliopolis Housing, which posted a 36 percent decline in half-year profit last week, shed 1.46 percent to LE 18.85 ($3.39). Shares of SODIC, the fourth-worst performer this year on the CASE 30 index, retreated 4.58 percent to LE 26.24.

Investment bank EFG-Hermes said last week it expects a slowdown in fourth-quarter 2008 off-plan sales as buyers become more cautious.

"The outlook for real estate is very negative," said Karim Hosny, trader at Pharos Securities. "Especially for high-end real estate, people are expecting an excess of supply."

Shares of Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab telecom operator by subscribers, extended gains to a second day after it said it may buy back its own shares.

Orascom said on Friday it had asked Egypt's regulator to approve a three-month program for it to buy back up to 65 million of its own shares. Shares of the company, down more than 40 percent this year, gained 4.8 percent to LE 18.98.

"Either they are already going ahead with the buyback or people are speculating that they will," said Mohamed Tawfiq, trader at Delta Rasmala Securities.

Shares of Mobinil rose 4.17 percent to LE 138.98 after Cairo-based HC Brokerage recommended that clients buy the stock and said its fair price was 39 percent higher than its current market price.

Shares of Telecom Egypt gained 0.67 percent to LE 14.97. The firm's chairman told reporters late on Sunday he was still looking to acquire a telecom company in the region to reduce dependence on revenues from Egypt.

The Hermes index shed 1.62 percent to 329.52 points and the broader CIBC index lost 2.20 percent to 231.1 points.