CAIRO - Egyptian indexes ended mixed on Thursday as Egyptian and Arab investors were driven by a bearish sentiment, traders said. The North African country's main index EGX 30 fell slightly by 0.13 per cent, ending the week's trading at 6,049.19 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, added 0.93 per cent to 581.94 points. Volume hit LE691 million (around $121 million), according to the Egyptian Exchange. Egyptian and Arab investors made net sell-offs worth LE12.2 million and LE6.7 million respectively, while non-Arabs made net purchases of LE18.8 million. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, fell slightly by 0.03 per cent, closing at LE230.6 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, slipped by 1.01 per cent to LE4.91 per share. In a related event, the weighted average yield at a 14-day deposit auction was 8.304 percent, the Central Bank of Egypt said on Wednesday. The CBE had asked for LE15 billion ($2.6 billion) and received bids worth LE17.915 billion. Meanwhile, world stocks slipped from a three-week peak while the low-yielding yen rose after the Federal Reserve suggested additional measures may be needed to combat a weakening economy. Chinese data injected caution. The country's economic growth moderated to 10.3 per cent in the second quarter from 11.9 per cent in the first quarter, slightly below forecasts of 10.5 per cent growth. Investors took profits on risky assets after a recent rally driven by strong US quarterly earnings. "On one hand, we have very strong company results. On the other hand, we have lingering doubts about the pace of the economic recovery," said Luc Van Hecka, chief economist at KBC Securities. "If you take into account what the underlying growth pace is in the US economy, if you take inventory affects and if you take economic stimulus packages, then it turns out that the economy is growing at a pace which is close to zero." Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) world equity index fell a third of a per cent after hitting the three-week peak on Wednesday. The FTSEurofirst 300 index dropped 0.5 per cent while emerging stocks also fell the same amount. The Bank of Japan said it expected the economy to grow at its fastest pace in a decade in the year to March 2011, but said the euro zone debt crisis could pose a risk to the outlook.
