CAIRO - Spearheaded by a bullish mood, Egypt's main index rose on Wednesday as the country's CIB and Mobinil were in the black, traders said. The country's benchmark index EGX 30 gained 2.27 per cent to 4,729.26 points, they added. But the broader index EGX 70 was in the red, falling by 0.47 per cent to 570.6 points. Locals, Arabs and non-Arabs were driven by a bullish sentiment, making net purchases worth LE226.8 million ($38 million), LE47 million and LE57.1 million respectively, according to Bourse data. Egypt's heavyweight Commercial International Bank (CIB) jumped by 3.69 per cent to LE26.16 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, rose by 3.98 per cent to LE3.4 per share. Mobinil leapt by 7.2 per cent to LE98.74 per share. Volume totalled LE331 million, according to Bourse data. Egyptian telecoms magnate Naguib Sawiris said he had no plans to sell shares in Mobinil, a mobile phone joint venture with France Telecom, according to Reuters. Mobinil shares reached their lowest since 2004 this month after the company reported a second-quarter loss in the wake of Egypt's popular uprising. The stock surged 10 percent on Wednesday, with traders citing talk of a possible change in Mobinil's shareholder structure. The company has seen some customers cancel subscriptions in protest at a cartoon posted by Sawiris which some considered offensive to Islam. "I can only say that there is nothing -- that it is just not going to happen," Sawiris told Reuters when asked by telephone whether he might sell Mobinil shares. "They think because of this boycott that I will get fed up and sell. It's not in my character." Meanwhile, world stocks dipped while top-rated government bonds rallied as investors grew concerned that French and German plans for closer fiscal integration may be insufficient to stop the regional debt crisis from spreading further, according to Reuters. The Swiss franc surged against the euro after fresh measures announced by the Swiss National Bank to counter the franc strength did not contain drastic moves such as an exchange rate target which some had expected. France and Germany unveiled far-reaching plans for closer euro zone integration on Tuesday but stopped short of increasing the size of the region's rescue fund and rejected for now the idea of a common euro bond. Support for a common bond had been growing as it is increasingly seen as a way to allow highly indebted eurozone countries to regain access to commercial markets while providing investors a safeguard through joint liability. MSCI's world equity index fell 0.1 per cent. The index hit an 11-month low earlier in August during a volatile week which saw a rush to safe-haven assets. European stocks fell half a percent while emerging stocks were steady. Investors were particularly unimpressed by a plan to tax financial transactions.
