For the second day in a row, foreign buying lifted Egypt's main index 0.33 per cent up on Tuesday, traders said. Arab and non-Arab purchases hit LE45.6 million ($8.2 million) and LE2.4 million respectively, they added. The North African country's benchmark index EGX 30 ended the day's trading at 7,348.91 points. The EGX 70 index, which measures 70 of the country's small and mid caps, slipped by 0.91 per cent to 703.03 points. Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, fell by 2.17 per cent, closing at LE263.07 per share. Orascom Telecom, the largest Arab mobile operator by subscribers, rose by 1.77 per cent to LE6.89 per share. Meanwhile, optimism about the recovering US economy failed to spill over into European stock markets as investors remained jittery about whether Greece's aid package will work, according to Reuters. The euro slipped to around one-year lows against the dollar and yields on euro zone government bonds were flat to lower. Investors were still digesting the weekend agreement among European countries and the International Monetary Fund to a 110 billion euro aid package to Greece. "The package has finally arrived and ... the ECB is bending over backwards to be accommodative, HSBC strategist Phil Poole wrote in a note. "But, unfortunately, these measures were not delivered early enough to prevent Greece from being priced out of financial markets and considerable damage being done which has made the longer-term adjustment even more difficult." Morgan Stanley Capital International's (MSCI) all-country world stock index was down 0.1 per cent, led by a 0.2 per cent loss on the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares. Japan's market was closed for a holiday. Not for the first time in recent weeks, the concern about Greece and the euro zone overshadowed otherwise bullish news. US stocks staged a broad rally on Monday that drove the S&P 500 to its best day in two months after manufacturing, consumer spending and construction data all instilled confidence in economic recovery. The euro hovered near one-year lows, pressured by the sovereign debt crisis within its borders. The euro was down 0.2 per cent at $1.3164. Benchmark euro zone government bonds were steady to stronger. Two-year bond yields were a flat at 0.804 per cent, with 10-year yields a quarter of a basis point lower at 3.046 per cent.
