CAIRO - Non-Arab buying pushed Egypt's main index 0.57 per cent up on Monday, traders said. Non-Arab investors made net purchases worth LE4.5 million ($776,000) and LE1.1 million respectively, they added. Locals and Arabs mase net sell-offs worth LE3.1 million and LE1.4 million respectively. The North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 gained 0.57 per cent to 6,968.12 points. The EGX 70, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, slipped 0.22 per cent to 723.48 points. Volume hit LE872.6 million, according to the Egyptian Exchange. Orascom Construction Industries added 0.92 per cent to LE273.97 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, shed 0.69 per cent to LE4.29 per share. Real estate developer Talaat Mustafa Group inched 0.48 per cent up to LE8.39 per share. Citadel Capital jumped by 3.19 per cent to a one-year high at LE9.06 per share. Globally, Chinese shares slid and European stocks followed suit as the impact of China's Christmas Day interest rate rise sunk in to thin markets, according to Reuters. Chinese shares dropped 1.9 per cent after the People's Bank of China raised interest rates on Saturday for the second time in just over two months. The PBOC said it would raise the benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points to 5.81 per cent and lift the benchmark deposit rate by 25 basis points to 2.75 per cent. Analysts expect more to come in 2011 as the Chinese authorities battle to keep a lid on inflation, which hit a 28-month high of 5.1 percent in November. Asian shares excluding China bucked the downward trend. The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) index of Asian stocks outside Japan rose 0.1 per cent with Japan's Nikkei closing up 0.75 per cent, extending its recent outperformance in Asia. The Australian dollar steadied, having been knocked by China's move. Australia has benefited from strong Chinese demand for iron ore and other commodities. "There was a knee-jerk sell-off in the Aussie but investors knew this China move was coming eventually. Providing the Chinese data holds up in 2011, the Aussie should stay supported," said Geoffrey Yu, a currency strategist at UBS.
