The Egyptian pound held steady at an official foreign currency auction on Tuesday and weakened slightly on the black market. Egypt, which depends on imported food and energy, is facing a dollar shortage and mounting pressure to devalue the pound. The central bank surprised markets when it strengthened the pound on November 11 by 20 piasters against the dollar. On Tuesday it sold $39.1 million at a cut-off price of 7.7301 pounds to the dollar, unchanged from Sunday, providing 38.10 percent of the amount requested by banks.