Egyptian stocks were mixed on Tuesday, traders said. Non-Arabs, who made net purchases worth LE32 million ($5.6 million), pushed the country's main index 0.32 per cent up, they added. The North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 ended the day's trading at 6,506.92 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, shed 0.89 per cent to 610.06 points. Volume hit LE576 million, according to the Egyptian Exchange. Local and Arab investors made net sell-offs worth LE28 million and LE4 million respectively. EFG-Hermes, Egypt's largest investment bank by market value, gained 0.49 per cent to LE28.88 per share. Orascom Telecom rose by 1.1 per cent to LE5.49. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, slipped by 0.43 per cent, closing at LE253.96 per share. Meanwhile, world stocks fell as investors fretting about an anemic global recovery dumped risky assets and fled into government debt, Reuters reported. Recent data, particularly from the United States, have shown signs of fatigue in the global economy despite the extension of accommodative policy measures in most countries. Comments from a Bank of England policymaker that the UK risked sliding back into recession added to broader risk aversion, sending investors scrambling into government debt, driving 10-year British bond yields near record lows and 30-year German bond yields to all-time troughs. Bond yields move inversely to prices. "If the US housing data today is weak, that could take the market down," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management. "In light volumes, it's reacting to every bit of news, and the next economic news could be bad. M&A news has had a disproportionate effect." Japan's Nikkei average fell 1.3 per cent, dipping below the closely watched 9,000 mark for the first time in 15 months, pressured by selling from hedge funds and foreigners. The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) world equity index fell 0.7 per cent to retest one-month lows. The Thomson Reuters global stock index shed 0.8 per cent. The Nikkei index has shed nearly 15 per cent so far this year, compared to a 2.6 percent fall in the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index. The 9,000-9,100 range had been strong support for the benchmark Nikkei since last year. "Worries about the economy will not go away overnight, and investors will closely watch what measures emerge, including steps aimed at fending off a so-called double-dip recession in the US economy," said Masayuki Otani, chief market analyst at Securities Japan Inc. The retreat in equities buoyed the yen to a fresh 15-year peak against the dollar and a nine-year peak against the euro after Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda made no comment on currency intervention. Noda said recent currency moves are clearly one-sided and that disorderly moves can be harmful to the stability of the economy and the financial system. Against the dollar, the euro fell to a six-week low of $1.2614 on EBS. The scramble for less risky assets sent the 10-year and 30-year German Bund yields down more than 4 bps on the day to record lows at 2.214 percent and 2.871 percent respectively. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields were down five bps on the day at 2.546 percent, hovering near 17-month lows close to 2.53 percent struck last Friday. "It's hard to make a bearish case for bonds. That said, we're susceptible to a correction if the flow of headlines turns in any way more positive," said Sean Maloney, strategist at Nomura. Spot gold fell more than $2 to $1,221 an ounce after hitting a one-week low of $1,219.30, as falling equities prompted investors to sell bullion to cover losses, while a firmer dollar also put pressure on gold. Crude oil lost nearly a dollar at $72.20 a barrel, a seven-week low, as the dollar rose and the lackluster U.S. driving season approached its end without triggering a seasonal stockpile drop.
