Foreign buying pushed Egypt's main index 180 points up on Sunday, traders said. Orascom Telecom surged the most in four months as the company neared the completion of talks to sell assets to MTN Group Ltd. Orascom rose as much as 13.12 per cent, closing at LE6.12 "Investors expect the final outcome of the deal with MTN to be clear soon," Ashraf Akhnoukh, a senior equity trader at CIBC brokerage in Cairo, told Bloomberg. The country's benchmark index EGX 30 added 2.84 per cent, ending the day's trading at 6,517.43 points. Arab and non-Arab investors made net purchases worth LE35.5 million and LE27.4 million respectively. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, jumped by 2.44 per cent to 569.54 points. Other big caps were in the black too. Talaat Moustafa Group, Egypt's biggest listed developer, rose by 0.25per cent to LE7.97 per share. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, gained 2.03 per cent, closing at LE243.17 per share. EFG-Hermes, Egypt's largest investment bank by market value, rose by 3.62 per cent to LE29.76 per share. Meanwhile, Qatar stocks rose, leading Gulf Arab markets higher, on speculation this month's decline may have been overdone as economic growth picks up and global markets rallied as concerns over Europe's debt crisis eased. Industries Qatar, the second-biggest petrochemicals maker in the Middle East, surged the most in more than two months. Industries Qatar rose 4.7 per cent, the most since March 17, to 100.5 riyals. Etisalat, the biggest phone company in the United Arab Emirates, gained 0.5 per cent to 10.55 dirhams after it was upgraded to AA-from A+ at S&P. In Abu Dhabi, Emirates Telecommunications Corp., the phone company known as Etisalat, gained after its long-term corporate credit rating was raised by Standard & Poor's. Qatar's QE Index gained 2.1 per cent, the biggest advance since May 10, to 6,825.89. The gauge slumped 9.2 per cent this month. The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index, which tracks 200 equities in the region, climbed 0.2 percent. "We continue to focus on international markets and oil, which were generally higher over the Thursday to Friday period," said Ali Khan, head of cash-equity trading at Dubai- based Arqaam Capital Ltd. "Qatar was the worst performing market in the region month-to-date." European stocks posted a weekly gain as the Stoxx Europe 600 Index rebounded from an eight-month low on speculation the economy is strong enough to weather the region's government-debt crisis. "The Spain downgrade news came after Europe closed,” Khan said. “I would remain cautious as headline risk from Europe still remains." On Friday, US stocks fell, capping off their worst month in over a year as a downgrade by Fitch of Spain's credit rating reignited worries about eurozone debt issues, according to Reuters. The downgrade was the latest setback in a month in which the S&P 500 fell more than eight per cent on concerns the eurozone debt woes would escalate into a global financial crisis. "It definitely spooked the market, no doubt about it," said Terry Morris, senior equity manager for National Penn Investors Trust Company in Reading, Pennsylvania. "Up until now it's been mostly Greece and the threat of Spain and Portugal and Ireland. With Fitch actually downgrading Spain, it seems as if it is no longer a hypothetical, the contagion is now real." The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 122.36 points, or 1.19 per cent, to 10,136.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 13.65 points, or 1.24 percent, to 1,089.41. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 20.64 points, or 0.91 percent, to 2,257.04. For the week, the Dow edged 0.6 per cent lower, the S&P 500 gained 0.2 per cent and the Nasdaq added 1.3 per cent.
