CAIRO - Driven by foreign selling, Egypt's main index shed 56.9 points on Wednesday, traders said. The country's benchmark index EGX 30 fell by 1.13 per cent to 4,982.47 points. The broader indexes EGX 70 and EGX 100 were also in the red, falling by 1.12 and 1.25 per cent to 608.43 and 934.51 points respectively. Volume totalled LE571 million ($95.8 million), according to Bourse data. Egypt's heavyweight Commercial International Bank (CIB) slipped by 0.22 per cent to LE27.67 per share. Mobinil plunged by 2.99 per cent to LE140.71 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, shed 1.67 per cent LE4.12 per share. Orascom Construction Industries fell by 0.82 per cent to LE241.92 per share. Talaat Moustafa, the country's biggest listed builder, slid by 4.84 per cent to LE3.34 per share. EFG-Hermes, the country's biggest investment bank by market value, rose by 1.97 per cent to LE18.61 per share. Globally, the dollar hovered just above a three-year low and the euro jumped as data showed the United States added fewer private jobs than expected in April, boosting views US interest rates would remain low, Reuters reported. The euro rose above $1.49, its highest level since late 2009, and traders expect an imminent break of $1.50. Investors brushed off news of a euro bailout package for Portugal, the third euro zone country to need emergency aid. "This appears to be a bump in the road for recovery if indeed the pace of job recovery has slowed," said Michael Woolfolk, strategist at BNY Mellon. "It certainly feeds into the notion that the Fed won't be hiking interest rates soon." Unlike the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank rose rates last month for the first time since 2008 and is expected to do so again this year, though most traders expect it to stand pat at its policy meeting on Thursday. Markets do not expect the Fed to raise rates from near zero until 2012. The euro rose as high as $1.4928, a 17-month peak, and was last up 0.7 percent at $1.4920. The dollar was flat at 80.94 yen. Against a basket of major currencies was a breadth away from a three-year low.
