Driven by local and Arab selling, Egyptian stocks fell on Tuesday, traders said. Local and Arab investors made net sell-offs worth LE47 million ($8.2 million) and LE12.6 million respectively, they added. The North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 shed 0.94 per cent, or 60.7 points, ending the day's trading at 6,407.93 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, fell by 1.98 per cent to 589.94 points. Orascom Telecom slipped by 1.86 per cent to LE5.27 per share. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, plunged by 1.76 per cent, to LE251.8 per share. Volume hit LE840 million, according to the Egyptian Exchange. Meanwhile, world stocks fell in markets dominated by concerns the US economy is sliding back into recession, prompting further flows into safe-haven assets. The yen -- a favorite for carry trades at times of economic stress -- hovered back near 15-year high against the dollar after investors brushed off Japan's attempt to weaken the currency, yields on benchmark German government bonds hit record highs and the Swiss franc soared against the euro and dollar. Mounting US economic concerns likely to keep investors away from riskier assets and push up the yen, keeping pressure on Japan to intervene directly in currency markets for the first time in more than six years. Crude prices, seen as a proxy for world economic growth, also came under pressure, and were down 6.6 percent so far in August and on track for their worst monthly losses since May. World stocks measured by MSCI All-Country World Index lost 0.9 per cent. The index was also headed toward its worst monthly performance in three months. Tokyo's Nikkei average shed 3.6 per cent, its worst daily drop in three months, after the Bank of Japan's move the day before to boost cheap loans to banks failed to curb the yen's strength. In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index dropped 1.1 per cent. "If you look at all the noise, all the volatility and all the nervousness, it's clear that this market has one major fear at the moment and that's the double dip," said Philippe Gijsels, head of research at BNP Paribas Fortis Global Markets in Brussels. "And we are not going to have the answer to that one until the fourth quarter. There is more downside risk for equities over the next couple of weeks."
