Driven by non-Arab buiyng, Egypt's main index EGX 30 gained 108 points on Tuesday, traders said. Despite declines in world markets, the North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 jumped by 1.61 per cent, ending the day's trading at 6,833.26 points, they added. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, added 0.72 per cent to 736.23 points. Volume hit LE2.4 billion ($442 million), according to the Egyptian Exchange. Shares in Media Production City were the day's best gainer, jumping by 7.02 per cent to LE7.47 oer share. GB Auto inched up 3.05 per cent to LE27.69. Meanwhile, world stocks slipped as investors waited for a wave of US company earnings reports to give them a steer of how well the micro side of the global economic recovery is faring. On currency markets, Britain's pound hit a six-week high against the dollar, drawing strength from U.S.-based Kraft Foods nearing a recommended deal to buy Britain's Cadbury for around 11.7 billion pounds ($19.2 billion). The Morgan Stanley Capital International's (MSCI) all-country world stock index was down around 0.2 per cent by 08:50 GMT. Europe's pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 dropped 0.5 per cent. Earlier, Japan's Nikkei closed down 0.8 per cent. "Results from IBM and Citigroup could give both the bulls and the bears plenty of ammunition to move markets. The sheer number of companies reporting this week could make this a pivotal period," said Owen Ireland, analyst at ODL Securities. The US earnings season has disappointed equity investors so far, perhaps because year-on-year expectations were so high given the weakness of Q4 2008. Markets, for example, were negative last week on JPMorgan, the first major bank to report quarterly results, because of heavy losses on mortgage and credit card loans. The euro fell to a four-month low against the pound as Greece's fiscal woes continued to take a toll on the single European currency and the Kraft-Cadbury deal boosted sterling. At a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday, Greece received the group's backing to tackle its debt troubles, even as they pressed the country to do more on its own. Greece's ballooning budget deficit and debt of more than 120 per cent of GDP has triggered downgrades by debt rating agencies and hurt the euro in the past few months. Euro zone government bond futures extended gains to fresh one-month highs as regional stocks dipped, and US Treasuries nudged higher after the long US holiday weekend.
