Egypt sells 904 mln pounds of T-bonds after cancelled auctions

Egypt sold 904 million Egyptian pounds ($50.6 million) worth of three- and seven-year treasury bonds on Monday after cancelling sales for four successive weeks, the central bank said.

The three-year bonds carried an average yield of 18.432 percent while the seven-year bonds carried an average yield of 18.431 percent, bank data showed.

The bank sold 750 million pounds of three-year bonds, the same amount it was seeking. It sold 153 million pounds of seven-year bonds, well under the 500 million pounds worth it had sought.

Demand for local currency bonds has declined and yields have risen since currency crises in Argentina and Turkey scared foreign investors away from emerging markets.

Egypt’s central bank has been reluctant to lock itself into long term maturities at high yields.

(US$1 = 17.8600 Egyptian pounds)

Source: Reuters