Egypt's main index was flat on Monday, while the broader EGX 70 shed 0.74 per cent, traders said. Arab and non-Arab investors made net purchases worth LE5.4 million ($947,000) and LE27.6 million respectively, they added. Egyptian investors made net sell-offs worth LE33 million. The North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 slightly rose by 0.06 per cent, or 3.61 points, ending the day's trading at 6,468.69 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, closed at 601.85 points. Orascom Telecom slipped by 1.29 per cent to LE5.37 per share. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, rose by 1.19 per cent, to LE256.32 per share. Volume hit LE369 million, according to the Egyptian Exchange. In a related event, shareholders in Golden Pyramids Plaza, owner of the City-Stars mega-mall in Cairo, have rejected a share swap with South Valley Cement, putting an end to their planned merger, according to Reuters. South Valley approved an LE15 billion capital increase in May to buy Golden Pyramids Plaza, in a bid to expand its focus and diversify its operations outside of cement. Meanwhile, world stocks put in modest gains and the dollar slipped, lifted by last week's assurance from the US Federal Reserve that it will do what is needed to spur economic recovery. Mergers and acquisitions continued to buoy European shares. Japanese stocks closed up nearly 1.8 per cent, but only after paring earlier strong gains when the Bank of Japan made only minor tweaks in policy, disappointing markets looking for more aggressive action against deflation. MSCI's all-country world stock index gained around 0.4 per cent. MSCI's emerging market sub-index was up 0.8 per cent. A major catalyst was Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's playing down of the likelihood that the slowing U.S. economy might slip back into recession. "(It) was reassuring, but predictably so. There was no big positive surprise," said Bernard McAlinden, investment strategist at NCB Stockbrokers in Dublin. "As long as the economy stays out of recession, and we have some growth, the markets won't be too worried. The consensus is there won't be a double dip." Trading in Europe was thinned by a holiday in Britain, but the FTSEurofirst 300 was up 0.4 per cent. French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis also publicly disclosed its $18.5 billion cash offer for US biotechnology company Genzyme Corp. Merger and acquistion (M&A) activity in August had reached $228 billion by Friday, not far from the $260 billion record for the month hit in 2006, before the financial crisis. The dollar was down 0.5 per cent against the yen at 84.78 yen, close to a session low of around 84.73 yen. The dollar was also down 0.1 per cent against a basket of currencies. German government bonds resumed their climb following a steep fall late last week but held well below record highs struck recently with a public holiday in Britain dampening trading activity.
