Driven by a bearish sentiment, Egyptian stocks fell on Wednesday, traders said. The bearish mood in the local market tracked global worries about a Europe-wide stress test for banks, they added. The country's benchmark index EGX 30 shed 1.26 per cent, ending the day's trading at 5,944.93 points. The EGX 70, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, slipped by 1.85 per cent to 530.34 points. Volume exceeded LE734 million ($129 million), according to the Egyptian Exchange. EFG-Hermes, Egypt's largest investment bank by market value, slid by 2.41 per cent, closing at LE29.21 per share. Orascom Construction Industries, the country's largest builder by market value, dipped 1.51 per cent to LE228.72 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, fell by 1.21 per cent to LE4.89 per share. Telecom Egypt fell by 1.33 per cent to LE15.55 per share. Shares in developer Talaat Moustafa shed 1.56 per cent, to LE6.95. Meanwhile, the weighted average yield at a seven-day deposit auction on Tuesday was 8.275 per cent, the same atlast week's auction, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has said. The CBE asked for bids worth 20 billion Egyptian pounds($3.5 billion), it received bids worth 14.615 billion pounds. It accepted the whole amount at rates between 8.273 per cent, according to Reuters. Globally, investors sold shares following a burst of bargain hunting the previous day. Sentiment was hurt by the Institute for Supply Management's reading on service sector activity on Tuesday which showed growth in June, but at its slowest pace since February, heightening concerns about sluggish economic recovery. Along with continued worries about euro zone sovereign debt, the slowing pace of recovery, particularly in the United States, has deterred investment in riskier assets. World stocks as measured by MSCI were down 0.6 per cent having gained 1.7 per cent on Tuesday. The Thomson Reuters global stock index was down 0.4 per cent. "The continuous stream of disappointing economic data recently has been feeding the markets' worries about the adequacy of underlying demand in the world when the fiscal stimulus gets withdrawn," said Bernard McAlinden, investment strategist at NCB Stockbrokers in Dublin. Investors are concerned about the impact of stimulus programmes running their course, governments introducing harsh spending cuts to combat burgeoning debt, and the eventual raising of interest rates. In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 was down nearly one per cent having closed up 2.6 per cent on Tuesday, its biggest daily gain in about five and a half weeks. Earlier, Japan's Nikkei ended down 0.6 per cent but the index remained above a seven-month low hit on Tuesday. The euro slipped off a seven-week high with eyes on a European committee of bank supervisors, which is to outline on the methodology of a stress test on about 100 banks in the eurozone and other countries. Analysts said the euro was nonetheless being supported after a solid sale of Spanish syndicated debt in the previous session. "There's still an awful lot of uncertainty in Europe and the stress tests are the next big event ... If growth concerns return then Europe will be worse hit than the US," said Derek Halpenny, European Head of Global Currency Research at BTM-UFJ. The euro eased 0.4 per cent to $1.2571. It had risen to $1.2663 on trading platform EBS on Tuesday, the highest in about seven weeks.
