CAIRO, Jan 26 (Aswat Masriya) – Egypt's benchmark stock market index EGX 30 slightly rose by 0.05 per cent to reach 5,896 points on Tuesday.

The increase is attributed to the purchases of Egyptian and Arab investors which managed to reverse the bourse's track which was declining at the beginning of the trading session.

The stock exchange kicked off the day with a 1.5 per cent decline under pressure of foreign traders' sales during the first half hour of the trading session.

Meanwhile, the EGX 70 index for small and medium enterprises rose by 0.97 per cent while the broader EGX 100 inched up by 0.67 per cent.

By the end of the day, Egyptian and Arab investors recorded net purchases while non-Arab foreign investors recorded net sales.

After a hike at the end of last week, oil prices dropped again over the past two days, with Brent crude prices dropping below $30 per barrel amid looming oversupply fears from Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq.

Egypt's bourse suffered sharp losses since the beginning of the year due to the continuous drop in global and gulf markets which surged significantly last week on Monday and Tuesday after the presidency's announcement to offer shares of state-owned companies and banks in the bourse.

Egypt's main index EGX 30 incurred losses of 15.8 per cent since the beginning of the year and until today's trading.