For the second day in a row, retail and Arab buying and a rise in Orascom Telecom shares pushed Egyptian indexes up on Thursday, traders said. The North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 rose by 1.68 per cent, ending the week's trading at 6,719.35 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, added 1.7 per cent to 759.61 points. Volume hit LE1.6 billion ($292 million), according to the Egyptian Exchange. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, jumped by 2.49 per cent to LE6.18 per share. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, inched up by 0.61 per cent, closing at LE242.16 per share. In a related event, Egypt's Suez Cement posted a 25 per cent rise in 2009 net profit, driven by higher sales in a construction boom. Government stimulus spending on infrastructure and growing demand for housing helped fuel a 25 per cent rise in cement demand in 2009 with total production topping 50 million tonnes. Egypt's largest listed cement maker, a subsidiary of Italcementi, said on Thursday it made a profit of LE1.3 billion ($237 million), on sales up 15 per cent to LE6.38 billion on the back of growing construction activities. "Cement sales volumes are up because you have a construction boom that sustained in 2009 and boosted year-on-year sales in cement companies," Isamil Sadek, Beltone Financial analyst, told Reuters. Meanwhile, world stocks, the euro and commodities fell on concerns over a potential downgrade of Greece's debt, while borrowing costs for peripheral euro zone countries rose. Safe-haven government bonds firmed. World stocks measured in the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) All-Country World Index fell 0.4 per cent and Greece's share benchmark was down 0.6 per cent. "This keeps the tensions within the euro zone at the forefront of the minds of equity investors, and it will continue to burden equity markets," said Tammo Greetfeld, equity strategist at UniCredit Group. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei average closed down one per cent as the yen rose broadly. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 lost 0.2 per cent, though gains in bank shares, led by Royal Bank of Scotland after results, capped losses. Credit agency Standard & Poor's said on Wednesday it may downgrade Greece's BBB-plus rating by one or two notches within a month, citing downside risks to growth that could hinder the country's deficit-cutting plan. Rival Moody's Investors Service said Greece would need to enact its fiscal reform plans as promised if it was to avoid a downgrade. The comments overshadowed US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's pledge on Wednesday to keep interest rates low for a long time. The euro hit a one-year low against the yen and lost 0.3 per cent against the dollar at $1.3493. The low-yielding yen was the main beneficiary in Asian trade as risk aversion fuelled a rally into the Japanese unit, forcing it to a one-year high against the euro. "The yen is in favour after sentiment deteriorated over Greece Wednesday. It does tend to strengthen when times get tough and I would also say the yen is likely to remain in favour going into the Japanese fiscal year-end," said HSBC director of currency strategy Paul Mackel.
