For the third day in a row, Egyptian indexes rose on Sunday as non-Arabs were driven by a bullish sentiment, traders said. Non-Arabs made net purchases worth LE116.9 million ($20.6 million). Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, rose by 2.84 per cent, closing at LE242.48 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, jumped by 2.24 per cent to LE5.48 per share. The North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 gained 100.7 points, or 1.57 per cent, ending the day's trading at 6,519.09 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, added 1.93 per cent to 562.47 points. Volume hit LE1 billion, according to the Egyptian Exchange. In a related event, Palm Hills Developments has pushed back a plan to sell LE500 million in bonds until early 2011, Al-Mal newspaper quoted its chief financial officer (CFO). The company had said in January that its board of directors approved the sale of up to LE1 billion in bonds as part of a plan to raise new funds to speed up construction spending, according to Reuters. It completed a LE699 million rights issue in April and a LE467 million syndicated loan in January. Al-Mal quoted CFO Ihab Swellem as saying the LE500 million bond issue would take longer than expected because of procedures and because the firm would focus on construction and on building up its land bank in the next few months. On Friday, US stocks ground higher in another lightly traded session, ending a nervous week with gains despite signs of economic weakness at home and worries about public debt in Europe. Major indexes rose for the second straight week even though housing and labor market data raised concern about the fragility of the recovery. The S&P 500 closed above its 200-day moving average for the third straight session, which suggests resilience. "A lot of investors did get very bearish here, and that's a good sign that we had some selling. That has probably exhausted itself, so the pressures are ebbing," said Steve Goldman, a market strategist, Weeden & Co. in Greenwich, Connecticut. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 16.47 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 10,450.64. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1.47 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 1,117.51. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 2.64 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 2,309.80. The market has struggled to make headway since Tuesday's strong run when stocks rose on positive feelings engendered from successful debt auctions in Europe. The broad-based S&P 500 is down about 8 percent since a recent high on April 23 after having fallen around 14 per cent, largely on fears on sovereign debt defaults in Europe. For the week, the Dow and the S&P 500 gained 2.4 per cent and the Nasdaq added three per cent. Traders said the convergence of four key expirations, known as quadruple witching, had added to volatility. Although the S&P 500 held above its 200-day moving average since Tuesday, it has found resistance near 1,121, a key level that marks the halfway point between the October 2007 historic highs and the lows of March 2009.
