For the second day in a row, Egyptian indexes were in the red on Thursday, traders said. Volume was light at LE492 million ($86.6 million), according to the Egyptian Exchange. The North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 fell by 0.63 per cent, ending the week's trading at 6,333.29 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, slipped by 0.55 per cent to 606.99 points. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, slipped by 0.92 per cent, closing at LE255.33 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, rose by 1.58 per cent to LE5.13 per share. Meanwhile, financial markets regained some composure after the previous session's broad selloff of riskier assets, but European shares failed to hold early gains and the dollar lost only a little ground. Asian stock markets, catching up with Wednesday's moves in the West, slid to a near three-week low. The resulting mix took world stocks as measured by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI). The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 was flat after earlier gaining around half a pec cent. The U.S. economy, in particular, is showing signs of stumbling, prompting the US Federal Reserve to take steps to hold down borrowing costs. A spate of data from China has also confirmed its rapid imports and factory output growth to be slowing. "We could see economies relapse and double dip or struggle through and begin to grow with private demand starting to carry their weight," said Peter Elston, strategist at Aberdeen Asset Management in Singapore. "It is very unclear which of those two we are going to get." Global economic worries also preyed on the oil market, where crude slid for a third day. Earlier, Japan's Nikkei closed down nearly 0.9 per cent. The dollar slipped 0.1 per cent versus a basket of currencies after posting its biggest one-day gain in two years on Wednesday. The euro bounced as heavy selling abated on signs eurozone peripheral bond spreads were stabilising, while speculation of intervention to weaken the yen drove down the Japanese currency. The euro was trading up around 0.6 per cent versus the dollar at $1.2915.
