The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) achieved gains at the beginning of Thursday's trading backed by purchase operations by local, Arab and foreign investment institutions.

The market capital gained about 23.3 billion pounds to record EGP 440.6 billion on the back of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) decision to float the Egyptian pound versus the US dollar.

The EGX 30 benchmark index went up by 8.28 percent to close at 9,230.14 points.

The broader EGX 70 index of the leading smaller and mid cap enterprises (SME) increased by 2.8 percent to 354.08 points.

The all-embracing EGX 100 index inched up by 3.64 percent to hit 838.19 points.