CAIRO, Feb 10 (Aswat Masriya) – The Egyptian stock market's main index EGX 30 climbed 0.97 per cent at the end of Wednesday's session, recovering from a retreat on the previous day.

EGX 30 reached 6,062 points up from 5,999 points at the beginning of today's session.

Both the index for small and medium enterprises EGX 70 and the broader EGX 100 inched up, by 0.58 per cent and 0.51 per cent, respectively.

Purchases by Egyptian and foreign institutions contributed to the shift in direction of the main index from its initial decline at the beginning of today's session.

Egyptian and Arab traders made net sales, while foreign traders recorded net purchases.

On Tuesday, the Egyptian stock market plunged across all indices with the benchmark index EGX 30 bearing the largest retreat of 2.7 per cent, affected by both domestic and regional factors.

The market was brought down in part by news of the National Bank of Egypt's withdrawal from the acquisition deal of investment bank CI Capital, according to Mohamed Naggar, the head of technical analysis in Marwa for brokerage and stock exchange.

Ahmed Zakaria, the director of customer accounts at Okaz Securities Brokerage, said unusual purchases by foreign traders contributed to Wednesday's market rise. 

He added that an improved performance across European markets further contributed to the climb in the Egyptian stock market.

Egyptian traders assumed 95 per cent of trade, while foreign and Arab traders assumed 3 per cent and 2 per cent of trade, retrospectively.

Gulf markets retreated today affected by a plunge in oil price by nearly 8 per cent on Tuesday.

Brent crude oil dropped by $2.56, or 7.8 percent, reaching $30.32 a barrel, marking its largest drop in a day since Sept. 1, Reuters reported.

Egypt's stock exchange has been hit hard by the instability created by the dramatic fall in oil prices in the past year and a half, with the global market being flooded with supply.