Following world markets up, Egyptian indexes rose on Monday on non-Arab buying, traders said. Big caps, led by Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), pushed the country's main index 53 points up, they added. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, jumped by 2.11 per cent, closing at LE257.7 ($45.3) per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, added 0.19 per cent to LE5.16 per share. The North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 gained 0.84 per cent, ending the day's trading at 6,442.14 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, added 0.89 per cent to 614.49 points. Non-Arabs made net purchases worth LE81.5 million, while Egyptian investors made net sell-offs worth LE67.5 million, according to the Egyptian Exchange. Volume exceeded LE1 billion. In a relateed event, the average yield on Egyptian 91-day Treasury bills dipped to 9.501 per cent at an auction from 10.014 per cent. The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) accepted bids for bills worth LE2 billion ($353 million), the same amount it was seeking, Reuters reported. It accepted bids at rates between 9.468 percent and 9.552 per cent versus 9.985 and 10.078 per cent, at the previous auction. Meanwhile, world stocks edged up toward last week's three-month peak on Monday while the dollar held near a 15-year low versus the yen on rising expectations the Federal Reserve could soon buy bonds to support the economy. The MSCI world equity index rose a quarter per cent. The FTSEurofirst 300 index rose more than one per cent on the day while emerging stocks added 0.3 per cent. The dollar slipped toward a 15-year low below 85 yen before reversing to 85.63. It was steady against a basket of major currencies. "The dollar is highly likely to fall below 85 yen, possibly dropping beyond 84 yen if the Fed mentions a concrete plan to help the economy," said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief FX strategist at Barclays Capital. "Meanwhile, a sense of urgency is still missing among Japanese authorities with regards to possible market intervention." The positive correlation between US and Japanese two-year yield spreads, which have been narrowing, and the dollar/yen rate has strengthened to its highest since the period just after the collapse of Lehman Brothers two years ago. Given that, investors believe it is only a matter of time before the dollar hits a 15-year low against the yen.
