CAIRO - Spearheaded by a profit-taking sentiment, Egyptian stocks slipped on Wednesday, traders said. The country's benchmark index EGX 30 shed 0.23 per cent, ending the day's trading at 6,360.71 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, fell by 0.5 per cent to 611.07 points. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, dipped by 1.34 per cent, closing at LE250.39 ($44) per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, rose by 1.14 per cent to LE5.32 per share. Volume totalled LE603 million, according to the Egyptian Exchange. Meanwhile, world stocks dipped, dragged lower by losses in Europe that were partly caused by energy shares taking a beating from the weaker oil price, Reuters reported. Shares of global miner BHP Billiton remained in focus, falling on concerns that it may have to overpay for Canadian fertiliser group Potash Corp after the Canadian group rejected an initial offer. The dollar was about 0.1 per cent higher against a basket of major currencies while the euro was pressured as concerns about debt in the single currency zone persisted. Europe's FTSEurofirst 300 was down 0.8 per cent, dragged lower by energy stocks. Oil prices have been hit by worries about global economic growth and high inventories. An industry report signalled petroleum inventories in top consumer the United States were headed for a record, following an unexpected sharp increase in crude stocks last week. US crude for September delivery was off 55 cents at $75.22 a barrel. It is down around 4 percent this month. World shares as measured by the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) and Thomson Reuters were down about 0.1 per cent. Japan's Nikkei earlier closed up nearly 0.9 per cent. Traders warned against reading too much into market moves at the moment given that it is high summer in the northern hemisphere and there are major questions about the direction of the world economy. "The market is still rangebound. There is no conviction at the moment, and this will go on until September when investors come back from holiday," said Alexandre Le Drogoff, technical analyst at Aurel BGC in Paris. The euro struggled near key technical support levels as debt worries weighed, while the Canadian dollar held gains, helped by the BHP Billiton bid. "Sovereign debt jitters refuse to die down," said Nick Mellor, currency strategist, at Bank of New York Mellon. "Spreads for Greek, Italian and Portuguese debt remain elevated, despite the good responses to Irish and Spanish debt auctions this week. So we should see that impacting the euro."
