CAIRO, March 23 (Reuters) - Egyptian indexes rose on Monday in line with global markets, boosted by investor optimism on U.S. plans to rid banks of up to $1 trillion in toxic assets, traders said.
Details of the U.S. plan, which surfaced over the weekend, extended a nearly two-week global stock market rally fuelled by hopes that the financial system was stabilising after some of the largest U.S. banks said they had solid results in the first two months of the year.
"There's optimism from abroad on the latest plans from the U.S. to absorb bad assets and stimulate the economy. That's having a positive impact on equity markets worldwide," said Mohamed Kotb, director of asset management at Naeem Financial Investment.
Traders said renewed confidence in the market led to buying across the board.
"The market's on fire. International markets are doing very well, there was good news on the U.S. market... sentiment has improved worldwide, and here in Egypt there was buying across the board," said Karim Hosny of Pharos Securities.
The benchmark EGX 30 index rose 2.61 percent to 4,086.18 points, while the rival Hermes index added 1.94 percent to 384.19 points. The broader EGX 70 index gained 3.22 percent to 498.44 points.
Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's largest builder by market value, led the EGX 30 up, gaining 6.57 percent to 145.75 Egyptian pounds ($25.89), while Orascom Telecom gained 5.38 percent to 26.25 pounds.
Investment bank EFG-Hermes saw its shares gain 9.19 percent to last trade at 14.62 pounds, while shares in El Sewedy Cable, the largest Arab cable maker by market value, gained 7.04 percent to 44.98 Egyptian pounds. ($1 = 5.6298 Egyptian pounds) (Writing by Aziz El-Kaissouni)