Egypt's main index gained 0.51 per cent on Thursday as non-Arabs were driven by a bullish sentiment, traders said. The North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 ended the week's trading at 6,526.41 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, was flat at 602.03 points. Non-Arabs made net purchases worth LE18.3 million ($3.2 million), while local and Arab investors made net sell-offs worth LE12.8 million and LE5.5 million respectively, according to the Egyptian Exchange. Meanwhile, world stocks hit a two-week high and oil prices rose as optimism from strong US and Chinese manufacturing data extended into a second day, according to Reuters. Wall Street posted its best day in eight weeks on Wednesday, led by economically sensitive sectors like industrials and basic metals, after the upbeat manufacturing surveys from the world's two largest economies. The MSCI world equity index rose 0.2 per cent to the two-week high. The FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 0.1 per cent. The yen rose a third of a percent to 84.17 per dollar, off its 15-year high of 83.58 hit last week. The dollar lost 0.1 percent against a basket of major currencies while the euro was steady at $1.2809 ahead of the ECB meeting.
