BEIJING, Aug. 13 -- The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) total volume traded for Wednesday exceeded 1.3 billion Egyptian pounds (about 234 million U.S. dollars), yet EGX Index declined by 1.79%.

    Analysts said the decline was due to sales conducted by foreign and Arab investors. This led individual investors to focus on venture shares as an attempt to achieve satisfactory profits in the course of this decline.

    Brokers described traded volume for Wednesday as average, most of which was concentrated on major companies' shares, including Orascom Telecom, Al-Inshaa and Hermes.

    EGX 30 index, which includes the top 30 companies in terms of liquidity and activity, declined 115 points to reach 4283.42 points.

    On the other hand, EGX 70 Index that includes the top 70 companies declined by 2 points to reach 723.26 points.

    The greater EGX 100 Index lost 6 points to reach 1140.25 points. EGX 100 index tracks the performance of the 100 active companies, including both the 30 constituent-companies of EGX 30 Index and the 70 constituent-companies of EGX 70 Index.

    Brokers and economists reckon that the decline was a result of the sharp decline of American stock exchanges that took place on Tuesday August 11. Yet, they assure the ability of Egyptian stock market to go up again from Thursday August 13 due to the huge liquidity it has at present.

    Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Cairo. (XHTV)