Egypt pound o/n interbank steady at 8.8 percent

CAIRO: The median overnight interbank rate on the Egyptian pound was steady at 8.8 percent on Monday in a very quiet market dominated by interest in a central bank auction of 51-day deposits worth LE 4 billion ($702 million) . The average on Sunday was 8.799 percent. Traders said that banks had plenty of liquidity and would take advantage of every opportunity to deposit their funds with the central bank, which usually offers the best rates. The amounts on auction are getting smaller and this means that the interbank market will decline. The banks are not trading, just waiting for new announcements of more auctions, one of the traders said. Only two out of 11 banks contacted by Reuters reported overnight deals, both at 8.8 percent, unchanged from Sunday. None reported dealing one-week money on Monday. On Sunday three banks said they had made one-week deals, at rates between 8.9 and 8.95 percent. By 1 pm local time, the pound had strengthened a fraction, to LE 5.6950 to the dollar, from Sunday s closed weighted average of LE 5.6951.