Egypt debt insurance costs fall sharply-Markit

LONDON Feb 2 (Reuters) - The cost of insuring Egyptian debt against default fell sharply on Wednesday on ebbing concerns about political unrest, which had led to a spike in CDS prices in recent days.

Expectations of a smooth transfer of power in Egypt rose after President Hosni Mubarak said he would stand down later this year.

Egyptian five-year credit default swaps fell 69 basis points from Tuesday's closing levels to 364 bps, according to Markit, and are down nearly 100 bps from April 2009 peaks hit in recent days.

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain five-year CDS rose slightly. Saudi CDs gained 3 bps to 117 bps and Bahrain gained 2 bps to 211.

(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn and Isabel Coles; editing by Sujata Rao)