Egyptian indexes rose on Thursday, ending a two-day losing streak, traders said. Big caps pushed the country's main index EGX 30 up, gaining more than 57 points, they added. The North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 rose by 0.84 per cent, ending the week's trading at 6,863.43 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, jumped 2.34 per cent to 731.9 points. Volume hit LE1 billion, according to the Egyptian Exchange. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, added 0.8 per cent, closing at LE266.01 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, rose by 1.07 per cent to LE5.69 per share. Meanwhile, Egyptian developer SODIC slipped to a net loss in 2009, as expected, but analysts said they see a big upswing in profit toward the end of the year after the company recognises revenue from home sales, Reuters reported. The high-end real estate firm, also known as Sixth of October Development and Investment Company, reported a loss of LE112.5 million ($20.4 million) in 2009, down from a net profit of 26.8 million pounds in 2008. SODIC does not fully recognise revenue from a unit until it is delivered. Because many homebuyers in Egypt purchase houses "off-plan," or before delivery, that can take as much as five years after a sale is made. "We expect to see a real change in their income statement in the second half of 2010," Beltone analyst Khalid Khalil said, adding he sees revenues of 500 million pounds for the company in the second half of 2010, and 1 billion pounds in 2011. The stock shed 0.66 per cent to LE96.93 per share. SODIC has said it plans to start delivering homes in its flagship Allegria project west of Cairo near the end of this year, and will deliver some 300 units over 2010. World equities rose at the start of the second quarter as upbeat European and Chinese manufacturing data fueled optimism about the global economic recovery, while the dollar hit three-month highs versus the yen. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of European shares was up one per cent, and in Asia overnight the Nikkei average rose to its highest in a year-and-a-half, buoyed by the fall in the yen. HSBC's China Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) showed first-quarter manufacturing output expanded at the briskest clip in the survey's six-year history. The official purchasing managers index (PMI) rose to 55.1 in March from 52.0 in February, beating the median forecast of 54.5 in a Reuters poll of economists. "The data looks encouraging. The knock-on effect is in terms of Chinese expenditure," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management. "You've seen more imports going into China as a result of a lot of the infrastructure work being done and that impacts directly into a lot of European companies." Manufacturing activity in the euro zone also grew at its fastest pace in over three-years last month, data showed. World stocks measured in the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) All-Country World Index were up 1.43 per cent, having posted their fourth consecutive quarterly gain with a 2.7 per cent rise in the first three months of 2010. The dollar hit a three-month high of 93.73 yen with traders saying sentiment toward the Japanese currency is turning bearish into the new quarter, while the euro slipped to $1.3510, and marked a lifetime low against the Swiss franc, still vulnerable to sovereign risks festering in the background.
