The median overnight rate on the Egyptian pound fell to 4 percent on Sunday from 9 percent the previous session as demand for pounds eased near the end of a period for calculating reserve requirements, traders said.
They said many banks had squared their positions earlier in the two-week reserve period and had no more need for pounds. Monday is the last day of the current reserve period.
Traders also said the central bank had absorbed fewer pounds from the market than expected, helping keep the market liquid.
Five out of eight banks contacted by Reuters had dealt in overnight money at rates of between 3 percent and 7 percent, compared with Thursday's range of 8-11 percent.
Three banks dealt one-week money at rates between 9 percent and 10 percent, compared with 10-14 percent on Thursday.
The overnight CAIBOR rate dipped to 11.1928 percent from 11.7976 percent on Thursday. The one-week CAIBOR rate slipped to 11.9821 from Thursday's 12.1964 percent. On the official foreign exchange market, the pound last traded at a midrate of 6.24 in banks and exchange houses, unchanged from recent levels.
Four market sources quoted a slightly broader spread on black market trade in the pound, citing a range of 6.26-6.31 pounds to the dollar, compared with Thursday's levels of 6.26 to 6.28.
The sources said the pound might have weakened modestly amid fears that hard-currency tourism receipts could be hit by the bombings of three resorts in Sinai on Thursday, but most said any impact was unlikely to be big.
The sources said exchange transactions were increasingly being routed through official challenges, because the black market rate was now only slightly different from official rates.
Comments
Comments are closed.