Egypt's main index shed 105 points on Thursday as shares in Orascom Telecom took a blow after talks with South Africa's MTN Group ended without a deal on sales of the company's assets, traders said. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, slid by 5.27 per cent to LE5.57 (98 cents) per share. The North African country's main index EGX 30 fell by 1.66 per cent, ending the week's trading at 6,243.09 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, dipped by 1.19 to 539.62 points. Volume hit LE676 million, according to the Egyptian Exchange. "Orascom Telecom is going to pressure the index due to the negative news coming out of the collapse of the deal with MTN," Mohamed Radwan of Pharos Securities told Reuters. EFG-Hermes, the country's largest investment bank by market value, fell by 1.76 per cent to LE28.99 per share. Globally, shares in oil giant BP continued to fall heavily, hitting their lowest level since 1997, even as the company said it saw no justification for such a move. The euro rose as strong demand at a Spanish bond auction eased concerns about how Spain will fund its large debt. Peripheral eurozone government bond yield spreads over German benchmarks narrowed after Madrid's auction of three-year bonds, prodding the euro higher. Widening spreads in recent days have weighed on the single currency. Traders said market participants were wary of taking on significant long euro positions, with option expiries at $1.20 and $1.21 later in the day also helping to confine the single currency within a $1.20-$1.21 range. On Wednesday, US stocks fell in another late-day roller-coaster ride, dragged lower by BP and other energy shares as the US probe of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico deepened. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 40.73 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 9,899.25. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 6.31 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 1,055.69. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 11.72 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 2,158.85.
