For the second day in a row, Egyptian indexes rose on foreign buying on Thursday, traders said. The country's main index EGX 30 added 137.22 points, or 2.21 per cent, ending the week's trading at 6,337.51 points, they added. Arab and non-Arab investors made net purchases worth LE24.31 million ($4.3 million) and LE65.78 million respectively. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, leapt by 4.13 per cent to 555.97 points. Talaat Moustafa Group, Egypt's biggest listed developer, jumped by 4.61 per cent to LE7.95 per share. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, slipped by 0.19 per cent, closing at LE238.34 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, rose by 3.84 per cent LE5.41 per share. EFG-Hermes, Egypt's largest investment bank by market value, rose by 1.7 per cent to LE28.72 per share. OCI said that first-quarter profit rose 10.4 per cent after margins on fertiliser sales improved and construction costs were kept down. The builder and fertiliser-maker's net profit of $116.6 million was in line with the average $117.3 million forecast of seven analysts polled by Reuters. Their forecasts ranged from $99 million to $128.1 million. The result "looks in line with consensus, with construction margins better than expected and fertilizers slightly below on both revenues and margins," Deutsche Bank's Nabil Ahmed said. Meanwhile, the euro and European shares pushed higher after China denied a report it was looking to cut its eurozone sovereign debt holdings. Traders said a report stating Kuwait was mulling reducing investments in the euro zone later knocked the euro off its highs. The euro had shed 1.5 per cent after the Financial Times reported China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) was meeting foreign bankers because of concerns about its exposure to debt troubles in Europe. That report was groundless, said SAFE, the arm of the central bank that manages China's $2.4 trillion in foreign exchange reserves -- the world's largest stockpile. "The China comments downplaying the alleged change in diversification policy are reassuring on the surface and that has helped the euro rise," said Lee Hardman, currency analyst at BTM-UFJ. "But it comes down to actions rather than words and if the European debt crisis keeps rising, there will be less attraction for China to diversify from dollars into euros," he said. The euro extended gains against the dollar to a session high at $1.2342, up 1.4 percent on the day after the Chinese comments. China has been trying to diversify its currency reserves to reduce the dollar's dominance in favor of the euro and yen to curb risks. The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) index of world stocks rose one per cent as investors picked up shares beaten down in a sell-off fueled by fears Europe's debt crisis could spark a credit crunch and undermine the global economic recovery. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose over two per cent to a one-week high of 994.92. The index remains down around 11 per cent from a mid-April peak, on worries about Europe's debt crisis. Attractive stock valuations and technically oversold conditions prompted selective buying in Asia, but investors are treading cautiously amid persistent concerns over the economic fallout from the eurozone's debt woes.
