CAIRO--Driven by a bearish sentiment, Egypt's main index shed 74.19 points on Sunday as shares in EFG-Hermes and Commercial International Bank (CIB) were in the red, traders said. The country's benchmark index EGX 30 shed 1.04 per cent to 7,082.09 points. The EGX 70, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, fell by 1.3 per cent 777.77 points. Volume hit LE794 million ($137.4 million), according to the Egyptian Exchange. EFG-Hermes, Egypt's largest investment bank by market value, plunged by 2.36 per cent to LE33.97 per share. CIB dipped by 1.72 per cent to LE43.35 per share. Ezz Steel slid by 3.46 per cent to LE20.34 per share. Orascom Construction Industries shed 0.53 per cent to LE289.83 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, gained 0.23 per cent, closing at LE4.41 per share. On Friday, world stocks edged up, with JP Morgan's strong earnings pushing Wall Street higher, according to Reuters. A rise in Brent crude to above $99 a barrel helped lift US oil prices despite the increase in reserve requirements at Chinese banks. Wall Street rallied, with the benchmark S&P 500 Index posting its seventh straight week of gains after JPMorgan Chase & Co reported a larger-than-expected 47 per cent increase in quarterly earnings. Although sales at US retailers rose slightly less than expected in December, underlying inflation remained tame and investors were cheered by other data that suggested the recovery was modestly gathering strength. Retail sales for 2010 reversed two years of contraction with the biggest increase in more than a decade, while the Federal Reserve reported a surprisingly large 0.8 per cent gain in output at US factories, mines and utilities in December, helped by cold weather. The S&P Midcap 400 index, which includes companies with market caps ranging from $750 million to $3.3 billion, surged to end the session at 931.07, an all-time closing high. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 55.48 points, or 0.47 per cent, to close at 11,787.38. The Standard & Poor's 500 gained 9.48 points, or 0.74 per cent, to finish at 1,293.24. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 20.01 points, or 0.73 per cent, to end at 2,755.30. For the week, the Dow rose one per cent, the S&P 500 added 1.7 per cent and the Nasdaq rose 1.9 per cent. US financial markets will be closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The fresh tightening in Chinese monetary policy pushed European shares lower, although more positive US economic and earnings data helped pare losses by the close. Brent crude oil rose to a 27-month peak above $99 a barrel, as traders shrugged off China's move to restrict lending. In London, ICE Brent crude for February delivery settled up 62 cents, or 0.63 percent, at $98.68 a barrel, having traded as high as $99.20, the highest since October 2008. The February contract expired at the end of Friday's trading. But gold dropped one per cent to post its biggest two-week loss in nearly a year after China's move to rein in inflation and as safe-haven demand faded on a better economic outlook. US gold futures for February delivery lost $26.50 to settle at $1,360.50 an ounce. Spot gold fell as low intraday as $1,354.99 an ounce, a one-week low.
