For the third day in a row, local and Arab buying pushed Egypt's main index up, to hover above 5,000 points on Wednesday, traders said. Locals and Arabs made net purchases worth LE12.6 million ($2.1 million) and LE21.4 million respectively. Non-Arabs mde net sell-offs worth LE34 million, according to Bourse data. Egypt's benchmark index EGX 30 rose by 0.91 per cent to 5,002.82 points. The broader indexes EGX 70 and EGX 100 were also in the black, gaining 0.63 and 0.7 per cent to 617.66 and 941.4 points respectively. Volume totalled LE554 million, according to Bourse data. Egypt's heavyweight Commercial International Bank (CIB) gained 0.14 per cent to LE28.55 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, rose by 1.5 per cent LE4.07 per share. Mobinil rose by 1.21 per cent to LE135.89 per share. Talaat Moustafa, the country's biggest listed builder, shed 1.18 per cent to LE3.34 per share. EFG-Hermes, the country's biggest investment bank by market value, added 1.55 per cent to LE19.04 per share. Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) added 1.75 per cent to LE245.09 per share. OCI reported a 77 per cent jump in first-quarter net profit and said it was confident infrastructure spending would accelerate despite political turmoil in the Middle East, according to Reuters. The firm, Egypt's biggest listed builder and fertiliser maker, made a net profit of $206.1 million, up from $116.6 million a year earlier. The earnings beat the average forecast from seven analysts polled by Reuters of $182 million. Estimates ranged from $159 million to $200 million. OCI said its consolidated backlog was $5.1 billion at the end of the quarter and new awards totaled $0.3 billion, with infrastructure work making up 54 percent of the construction group's backlog as of end-March. OCI said first-quarter consolidated revenue increased 28 per cent to $1.3 billion and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 43 per cent to $334.7 million. Credit Agricole Egypt said its first quarter net profit fell 45 per cent year-on-year to LE59.9 million. The bank, owned 60 per cent by France's Credit Agricole, had a net profit of LE108 million for the same period a year earlier, it said. The bank's shares jumped by 3.54 per cent to LE11.4. Meanwhile, world stocks rose for a second straight day thanks to favourable US and European corporate earnings, while the euro slipped on uncertainty over whether debt-laden Greece would need additional financial aid. Oil prices and the euro dipped after China's April inflation came in slightly above expectations, but other data, including industrial output, suggested slower activity and less room for aggressive tightening to curb growth. British supermarket group J Sainsbury rose after it met full-year forecasts while Belgian-French financial group Dexia rose after a smaller-than-expected decline in profits. MSCI's world equity index gained 0.4 per cent, coming within 10 points of last week's three-year high. The FTSEurofirst 300 index and emerging stocks both rose 0.7 per cent. US crude oil fell 0.7 per cent to $103.18 a barrel, having suffered its worst weekly sell-off on record last week, as focus shifted to signs that the Chinese economy is cooling. Speculation as to whether Greece will receive more bailout funding was likely to keep peripheral trading volatile, as investors continue to price in a high probability that the country will eventually need to restructure its debt.
