Egypt's central bank sold $40 million to banks in a foreign exchange auction on Thursday, with the cut-off price barely changed at 6.9738 Egyptian pounds to the dollar.

The cut-off price at Wednesday's auction was 6.9731 pounds. Currency dealers say the government seems reluctant to allow the pound to weaken below the psychologically important mark of 7.00 to the dollar.

On the black market, one dealer was offering on Thursday to buy dollars for 7.40 pounds and to sell dollars at 7.45 pounds.

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, it has let the currency weaken by more than 11 percent against the dollar on the official market.