Egypt's central bank sold $38.5 million to banks in a foreign exchange auction on Thursday at a cut-off price of LE6.9660 to the dollar. The cut-off price at the previous auction on Wednesday was LE6.9591.

On the black market, one dealer offered to buy dollars for LE7.30 and to sell dollars LEat 7.37 - similar to Wednesday's levels. Earlier this week, one dealer quoted 7.45/55.

The central bank introduced the auctions at the end of December to help stave off a currency crisis and thwart a run on the pound. Since then, the currency has lost 11 percent of its value on the official market and even more on a newly re-emerged black market.