Against a backdrop of a very light volume, Egyptian indexes ended mixed on Sunday, traders said. Volume totalled LE278 million ($48.8 million), according to the Egyptian Exchange. The North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 slipped by 0.48 per cent, ending the day's trading at 6,302.97 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, gained 0.37 per cent to 609.25 points. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, slid by 1.43 per cent, closing at LE251.67 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, slightly dipped by 0.19 per cent to LE5.12 per share. In a related event, Al Baraka Egypt Bank posted a 57 per cent increase in first-half net profit to LE65.6 million, Reuters reported. The Cairo-based Islamic bank, in which Bahrain's Al Baraka Banking Group (ABG) has a controlling stake, said in May its net profit had more than tripled in the first quarter to 44 million pounds. Meanwhile, Egyptian International Pharmaceutical Industries Co (Eipico) posted a 17.5 percent rise in first half net profit to LE178.7 million. Net profit in the same period a year ago was 152 million pounds, the bourse statement said. On Friday, US stocks closed out their worst week in six with a whimper on Friday, slumping toward the close as economic data gave little reason to reverse a string of sell-offs. In a thinly traded session, indexes posted their fourth day of losses though selling pressure was limited in the Dow by strength in Bank of America Corp. US retail sales rebounded last month, as did the overall July Consumer Price Index, but the data was consistent with an economy that has slowed in recent months. Positive corporate earnings and improved technicals helped the market rally through July and early August, but sentiment soured this week and stocks turned negative for the year after a darker assessment of the economy by the Federal Reserve and renewed concerns about China's economic growth rate. For the week, the Dow fell 3.3 per cent, while the S&P slid 3.8 per cent and the Nasdaq lost five per cent. The S&P 500 relinquished its hold on the 200-day moving average that had generated some positive momentum and was trading below its 50-day moving average on Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 16.80 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 10,303.15. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 4.36 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 1,079.25. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 16.79 points, or 0.77 per cent, to 2,173.48. Consumer sentiment stabilised this month after a sharp drop in July, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys' preliminary August reading showed. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said business inventories rose slightly more than expected in June.
