Driven by non-Arab buying, Egypt's main index gained 119.4 points, traders said. Non-Arabs made net purchases of LE40.4 million ($7.2 million), they added. The North African country's main index EGX 30 rose by 1.8 per cent, ending the day's trading at 6,761.28 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, added 0.33 per cent to 619.88 points. Volume hit LE655 million, according to the Egyptian Exchange. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, gained 1.89 per cent, closing at LE247.18 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, rose by 1.03 per cent to LE5.86 per share. Meanwhile, Egyptian El Sewedy Cables said first-quarter net profit rose 32 per cent after it was able to increase revenue faster than costs, Reuters reported. El Sewedy, the biggest Arab cable maker by market value, said net profit before minority interests rose to LE266 million, on revenue up 21 per cent to LE2.93 billion while the gross profit margin widened to 18.8 percent from 17.9 percent. Revenue growth came from sales outside its home market of Egypt, where sales decreased by 15 percent. It will sign a $100 million contract with Mozambique's state electricity utility by the end of May to supply and install overhead cables, underground cables and electrical accessories in two cities in Mozambique, the company said on Monday. Swiss-based developer Orascom Development will go ahead with a capital increase it called off in April after detecting irregular trading on its Swiss shares, its chairman said on Monday. Asked during a conference call when the capital increase would be, Samih Sawiris said: "I think a formal statement from the company's side that we will indeed pursue the capital increase ... is sufficient information at this stage." Egyptian Gulf Bank's third quarter net profit fell 44 per cent to LE22.6 million ($4.0 million). Net profit for the first quarter of 2009 was LE40.2 million, it said, without giving other figures. Global stocks edged higher after a late rally on Wall Street and on cautious optimism that progress is being made on the eurozone rescue plan, but the euro itself remained under pressure. Eurozone finance ministers said they hoped to clarify some technical and legal details of the 750 billion euro ($925 billion) rescue plan this week. Spain and Portugal are also expected to outline measures to cut their budget deficits. European stocks took heart, but the euro struggled to recover from Monday's four-year lows, and was little changed at $1.24. "In terms of levels, we expect to see a break lower. The fundamental story remains for the dollar to strengthen against the euro both in terms of fundamentals and relative pricing on the money market," said Kasper Kirkegaard, currency strategist at Danske in Copenhagen. The US Senate voted on Monday for the US government to oppose International Monetary Fund bail-outs to countries unlikely to repay them, which added to the euro's woes. World stocks as measured by the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) All-Country index were up 0.3 per cent whilst the more volatile emerging markets index was up 0.5 per cent. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares also edged higher, up 1.11 per cent in early trading, boosted by late buying on Wall Street, with banks adding most points to the index. "While the European debt is a dark cloud hanging over markets, the rest of the world looks quite bright," said Steven Bell, a director at hedge fund firm GLC. "There is a frightening scenario on TV sets, but the European economy is chugging along, quite nicely, and US consumer spending is growing, so ultimately there is upside for risk assets," he said. Earlier, Asian stocks had fallen to three-month lows as traders continued to fret about the impact of euro zone spending cuts on exporters. Materials and consumer discretionary stocks were the worst affected. The markets were also troubled by a Chinese leading economic indicator which appeared to show that growth may have already peaked. Despite this, Shanghai stocks were up 1.31 per cent as the market tried to claw back some of Monday's 5.1 per cent tumble, its biggest one-day fall for eight months. In Japan, the Nikkei closed little changed after a choppy session.
