Rising by more than 187 points, Egypt's main index EGX 30 hovered above 7,000 points on Tuesday as the country's big caps jumped on non-Arab buying, traders said. Non-Arabs made net purchases of LE100 million ($18.2 million), while Egyptian and Arab investors made net sell-offs worth LE72 million and LE28 million respectively, they added. Egypt's Ezz Steel jumped by 9.14 per cent, after raising steel prices late last week and reopening one of its plants. Egypt's largest steelmaker raised its steel prices by 25 per cent last week, pushing its stock up to LE23.88 , Reuters reported. The Egyptian Exchange was closed on Sunday and Monday, marking Coptic Easter and Sham el-Nassim (Spring Day). "Ezz Steel is up because of the increased steel prices and reopening of their plant which was shut down," said Osama Mourad of Arab Finance Brokerage. "This has not changed since Thursday and this is a continuing rally". The North African country's main index EGX 30 leaptby 2.73 per cent, ending the day's trading at 7,051.11 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, added 1.44 per cent to 742.42 points. Volume hit LE1.1 billion, according to the Egyptian Exchange. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, rose by 3.26 per cent, closing at LE274.69per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, gained 2.64 per cent to LE5.84 per share. Suez Cement, Egypt's largest listed cement maker, approved a cash dividend of LE3.3 ($0.599) per share, the Egyptian Exchange said. The firm, a unit of Italy's Italcementi, also approved an LE 3 ($) cash dividend for its subsidiary Torah Cement. Suez's dividends will be paid on April 29 and Torah will pay its dividends on April 22. Egyptian government stimulus spending on infrastructure and growing demand for housing fuelled a 25 per cent rise in cement demand in 2009, with total production topping 50 million tonnes. Telecom Egypt, the biggest fixed-line telephone company in the Middle East, was downgraded to "underweight" by Morgan Stanley, citing "low" dividend "visibility". Meanwhile, the euro fell against both the dollar and yen on renewed worries about Greek debt while world shares were flat with Europe higher. Jitters about Greece returned to the market after a newspaper report said it was seeking $5 billion to $10 billion from US investors to help cover its May borrowing requirement. The process of seeking the funding looks likely to be akin to an emerging market, including a roadshow. Greece was also reported separately to be seeking to amend the deal struck late last month with European Union partners to provide an emergency safety net. One result was a sell-off in the euro, which was down half a percent against the dollar at $1.3417 and around one per cent against the yen at 125.94 yen. "There's speculation that the financial situation in Greece will become increasingly difficult," said Lutz Karpowitz, currency strategist at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. "Negative news about Greece will continue to pressure the euro." Eurozone government debt also fell. The June Bund future was down 64 ticks on the day at 122.80. The interest rate-sensitive two-year Schatz yield was up 5.5 basis points at 1.03 per cent. The ten-year Bund yield was up eight basis points at 3.163 per cent. Five-year Greek credit default swaps -- the cost of insuring Greek debt -- rose to 354 basis points from 347 basis post on Friday, the last day they were priced. Eurozone bonds were also catching up from the long Easter weekend, which saw some positive US economic data, including on jobs. Word stocks as measured by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) were flat to higher, with European stocks holding up the benchmark. European shares hit a new 18-month high, tracking gains in the United States, where sentiment was boosted by a stronger labour market. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up half a percent after rising 1.4 per cent in the previous session to its highest close since September 2008. The European benchmark is up more than 70 per cent from its low of March 9, 2009. Earlier, Japan's Nikkei average fell 0.5 per cent, but only after successive days of 18-month highs.
