CAIRO - For the second day in a row, Egypt's benchmark index EGX 30 gained 0.74 per cent to 5,073.07 points on Monday, traders said.
Non-Arabs, who made net purchases worth LE17.2 million ($2.9 million), pushed indexes up, they added. Locals and Arabs made net sell-offs worth LE3.1 million and LE14.1 million respectively, according to Bourse data. The broader indexes EGX 70 and EGX 100 were slightly up by 0.07 and 0.19 per cent to 642.03 and 955.88 points respectively. Volume totalled LE1.4 billion, according to Bourse data. Egypt's heavyweight Commercial International Bank (CIB) gained 0.56 per cent to LE27.17 per share. EFG-Hermes, the country's biggest investment bank by market value, rosed by 0.47 per cent to LE19.39 per share. Orascom Construction Industries advanced by 0.73 per cent to LE263.19 per share. Orascom Telecom, the biggest mobile operator in the Arab region, and Mobinil rose by 1.04 and 0.74 per cent to LE3.89 and LE103.80 per share respectively. Meanwhile, world stock markets rallied as investors welcomed news of a last-minute deal to raise the US debt ceiling and avoid a disastrous default of the world's biggest economy, according to AFP. The London market was cheered as global banking giant HSBC unveiled a 35 per cent jump in net profits for the first half of the year. Asian equities also powered ahead. Hong Kong rose 0.99 per cent, Tokyo jumped 1.34 per cent, Seoul gained 1.83 per cent and Sydney advanced 1.65 percent, but Shanghai gained just 0.19 per cent on poor manufacturing data. "So we have a deal over the debt ceiling from Washington, but with President Obama calling it modest, there has to be a degree of concern that they've done little more than kick the proverbial can a bit further down the road," said IG Markets analyst Cameron Peacock. "What's more, the package still has to be voted on and that's something that should happen in the next couple of day, but at least markets in general are finding some cheer off the news that default appears to have been averted." Oil, metals, grains and soft commodities all rose while gold lost some safe-haven appeal. Factories in China, a top consumer of many commodities, saw their slowest activity in 28 months in July as manufacturers grappled with a credit shortage and softer global demand. That added to disappointing data on Friday when revised US figures showed the world's largest economy came dangerously close to shrinking in the first quarter, with GDP growth of just 0.4 per cent. Gains in other commodities suggested investors were exercising caution in pushing up prices.
