Egyptian indexes ended mixed on Thursday as retailers and Arabs weighed pulled the country's main index down, traders said. The North African country's main index EGX 30 fell slightly by 0.1 per cent, ending the week's trading at 6,769.08 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, added 0.8 per cent to 719.59 points. Volume hit LE914 million ($167 million), according to the Egyptian Exchange. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, slipped by 0.75 per cent, closing at LE241.62 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, was flat at LE6.27 per share. Meanwhile, a spike in Chinese inflation weakened equity markets, as investors pondered the prospects of interest rate hikes in one of the world's main economic drivers, Reuters reported. World stocks as measured by the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) were down slightly, led by emerging markets and Europe. Japan's Nikkei rose nearly one per cent with interest focused mainly on exporters. Chinese consumer inflation jumped to a 16-month high in February and a raft of other domestic data displayed broad-based strength, providing fresh arguments for policy tightening sooner rather than later. "The inflation figures add a little bit more worry in regard to the actions the Chinese will take to try and control the economy," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management in London. "There is the concern that they will take too strong an action and that will reverberate back onto Europe ... The last thing we need to see is China trying to slow itself down." The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was down 0.3 per cent, although it was coming off a seven-week closing high on Wednesday. Globally, equities have been recovering somewhat this month from early-year weakness. Most major indexes are now in positive territory for the year. Eurozone government bonds were steady, with core fixed income markets finding some support after a smooth sale of ten-year US Treasuries on Wednesday. There was strong demand for the US Treasury's $21 billion reopening of a ten-year note issue it auctioned in early February.
