CAIRO - Egyptian stocks gained on Monday on local and Arab buying, traders said. The country's benchmark index EGX 30 rose by 0.98 per cent to 5,052.81 points, they added. The broader indexes EGX 70 and EGX 100 gained 2.72 and 1.96 per cent to 612.85 and 944.41 points respectively. Volume was low at LE374.4 million ($62.8 million), according to Bourse data. All big caps were in the black, excluding Orascom Construction Industries (OCI). Egypt's heavyweight Commercial International Bank (CIB) added 1.6 per cent to LE27.86 per share. EFG-Hermes, the country's biggest investment bank by market value, jumped by 3.09 per cent to LE18.03 per share. Investment bank Pioneers Holding leapt by 5.58 per cent to LE2.27 per share. OCI slipped by 0.12 per cent to LE241.44 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, gained 0.94 per cent LE4.28 per share. Mobinil rose by 2.52 per cent to LE146.74 per share. Telecom Egypt added 0.73 per cent, closing at LE16.47 per share. Talaat Moustafa, the country's biggest listed builder, added 1.94 per cent to LE3.68 per share. Meanwhile, Middle East shares rose as global markets advanced after President Barack Obama said al- Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed. "News of Bin Laden's death is giving international markets a good feeling, which in turn is trickling down into our region," Amro Halwani, a senior trader at Shuaa Capital PSC in Riyadh, told Bloomberg. "The euphoria will most probably be short lived as investors realise this was more of a political stunt that will have little effect on international or regional political stability." Credit extended to Egyptian private companies rose for a second month in March to LE321.6 billion ($54 billion) at a time when the economy was reeling from the effects of the revolt that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. Oman's MSM30 Index rose 0.6 per cent, Kuwait's SE Price Index and Bahrain's measure gained 0.1 per cent. The DFM General Index was little changed declining less than 0.1 per cent, while Abu Dhabi's ADX General Index increased less than 0.1 per cent. Qatar's gauge lost 0.3 per cent. The dollar trimmed gains as investors said bin Laden's death would do little to repair negative sentiment for the dollar, which has been stung by prospects that US interest rates will stay low.
