Egypt recovers early session losses as foreigners buy

Egypt's bourse recovers from a three-week intraday low to end near-flat as international investors absorb selling pressure from their local and regional counterparts after violence in Port Said.

Egyptians rampaged in protest at the sentencing of 21 people to death over a soccer stadium disaster, violence that compounds a political crisis facing Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.

Non-Arab foreigners are net buyers against selling pressure from Egyptians and other Arab investors, according to bourse data.

Cairo's index ends 0.02 percent lower at 5,688 points, trimming 2013 gains to 4.1 percent.

Most stocks end lower, with 19 down and nine up.

Orascom Telecom rises 1.2 percent, while Talaat Moustafa drops 1.9 percent.

Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia's measure ends little changed, easing 0.02 percent to finish at 7,024 points.