Spearheaded by non-Arab buying, Egypt's main index gained 99.7 points on Thursday, traders said. Non-Arabmade net purchases worth LE128.6 million ($22.2 million), they added. Locals and Arabs made net sell-offs worth LE114 million and LE14.5 million respectively. The North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 gained 1.47 per cent, ending the week's trading at 6,873.33 points. The EGX 70, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, rose by 1.13 per cent to 751.55 points. Volume hit LE1.6 billion, according to the Egyptian Exchange. Commercial International Bank (CIB) jumped by 3.54 per cent to LE43.54 per share. Orascom Construction Industries added 0.81 per cent to LE267.15 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, gained 1.64 per cent to LE4.33 per share. Meanwhile, world stocks ratcheted higher, adding to December's rally, and US Treasuries steadied following their recent sharp sell off, Reuters reported. The dollar also clawed back some losses from the past couple of sessions. A combination of rising optimism about the US economy, including over a proposed extension of tax cuts, and concerns about the deficit that those measures would worsen, prompted a sharp spike in Treasury yields on Wednesday as investors dumped the bonds. "My hunch is that we are near a selling climax in US Treasuries. Such a feeling is also in the market, dampening the dollar now," said Koichi Yoshikawa, head of forex trading at BNP Paribas in Tokyo. The yield on 10-tear US Treasuries was around 3.25 per cent in early European trading, down around two basis points but still around 90 basis points above this year's low hit in late September. The dollar, which has risen on prospects of higher yields from US assets, was down a quarter of a per cent against a basket of major currencies, essentially tracking the recovery-from-Wednesday mood. Investors, by contrast, have become more bullish about equities, driving world stocks as measured by the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) up nearly three percent this month. The all-country world index was up half a per cent with its emerging market counterpart gaining around the same.
