For the fifth day in a row, Egyptian indexes gained 111 points on Wednesday to hit a three-month high on foreign buying, traders said. Local big caps followed world stocks up as better-than-expected US company earnings and firm data raised expectations that the economy would keep strong momentum into the first quarter, they added. The North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 gained 1.6 per cent, ending the day's trading at 7,037.97 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, added 0.12 per cent to 771.93 points. Volume hit LE1.2 billion ($220 million), according to the Egyptian Exchange. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, climbed 5.43 per cent to LE6.80 per share. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, inched up by 0.9 per cent, closing at LE267.67 per share. Meanwhile, upbeat housing and manufacturing data and robust earnings from the consumer and industrial sector in the United States on Tuesday followed last week's figures showing the world's biggest economy grew at its fastest pace in more than six years in the final three months of 2009, Reuters reported. All pointed to signs that massive government stimulus is feeding through into the real economy, which bodes well for risky assets such as stocks and higher-yielding currencies. "We are seeing a cautious return of risk appetite as it feels like some of the recent moves have been overdone. The market is focusing on constructive data from the US and the euro zone and looking to pick up currencies such as the Aussie and euro as a result," said Ray Farris, a currency strategist at Credit Suisse. The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) world equity index rose 0.6 per cent, having hit a three-month low on Monday, before recovering to end up on the day. The FTSEurofirst 300 index gained around a third of a per cent on the day. Emerging stocks rose 1.6 per cent, while Chinese stocks jumped 2.4 per cent, their biggest gain in six weeks. The dollar fell 0.3 per cent against a basket of major currencies, while the euro rose a quarter per cent to $1.3999.
