Motivated by non-Arab buying, Egyptian stocks rebounded on Thursday, traders said. The bullish sentiment was nourished by a rise in Wall Street on Wednesday, they added. Non-Arabs made net purchases worth LE152 million ($26.8 million), while Egyptians made net purchases of LE143.6 million. The country's benchmark index EGX 30 gained 1.38 per cent, ending the week's trading at 6,026.87 points. The EGX 70, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, added 1.34 per cent to 537.46 points. Volume exceeded LE687 million ($121 million), according to the Egyptian Exchange. EFG-Hermes, Egypt's largest investment bank by market value, added 1.16 per cent, closing at LE29.55 per share. Orascom Construction Industries, the country's largest builder by market value, rose by 1.05 per cent to LE231.12 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, gained 1.64 per cent to LE4.97 per share. Shares in developer Talaat Moustafa rallied by 3.6 per cent, to LE7.2. Meanwhile, world stocks rose while the euro hit a two-month peak against the low-yielding dollar on rising expectations the forthcoming earnings season would show strong corporate performance, Reuters reported. Wall Street posted its best one-day gain in about six weeks on Wednesday after financial company State Street (said quarterly earnings would far exceed expectations, providing a lifeline to investors after several weeks of dismal economic reports. "The US had a good solid day yesterday ... There is a feeling earnings are going to be better than expected," said Stephen Pope, chief global equity strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald. The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) world equity index rose 0.7 per cent to a one and half week high. The FTSEurofirst 300 index gained nearly one per cent, led by Danish shipping and oil conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk, which rallied six per cent after the company upgraded its earnings guidance for the full year. The oil price jumped to a one-week high above $75 a barrel on an industry report showing US crude inventories plunged last week, stock market gains and hopes global economic recovery is still intact. "The fear over a double-dip recession or something more dramatic has eased a little bit from a month ago," said Yingxi Yu, a Singapore-based commodities analyst with Barclays Capital. "Market sentiment remains a very important driver. Oil really follows equity markets and other risky assets."
