Spearheaded by a bullish sentiment, retailers and Arab investors lifted Egypt's main index on Wednesday, traders said. Egyptian and Arab investors made net purchases worth LE230 million ($40.6) and LE23.3 million respectively, they added. Non-Arabs made net sell-offs worth LE253.3 million. The North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 rose by 1.01 per cent, ending the day's trading at 6,348.25 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, added 0.62 per cent to 544.22 points. Volume hit LE1.6 billion, according to the Egyptian Exchange. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, adde 1.76 per cent, closing at LE233.09 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, slipped by 0.56 per cent to LE5.31 per share. Meanwhile, world stocks hit a one-month high and the euro briefly hit a two-week peak as strong gains on Wall Street and the relative success of this week's European debt auctions encouraged fresh risk-taking, Reuters reported. "The market has got over political, euro and sovereign debt worries, although none of those issues have gone away," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management. "The market has gone back to looking at corporate valuations, which are looking good." The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) world equity index rose 0.3 per cent to hit its highest level since mid-May. The FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.4 per cent, extending a rally to six days. Emerging stocks gained 0.7 per cent. US crude oil was steady at $76.90 a barrel having topped above $77 earlier. "Oil is basically moving with stock markets and the stock markets are moving with optimism and pessimism over the euro," said Keichi Sano, general manager of research at SCM Securities in Tokyo. "Prices are getting into a higher range of $75-$85 for the coming two to three months." The euro rose as high as $1.2355 before easing back to $1.2281, down 0.3 percent on the day. The dollar rose 0.3 percent against a basket of major currencies.
