Egypt sells more dollar T-bills than it sought

Egypt's central bank said it sold more one-year US-dollar-denominated treasury bills on Tuesday than it had sought and that the average yield had fallen to its lowest since the instrument was introduced in November.

"Due to increased appetite by both local and offshore financial institutions, the Ministry of Finance accepted $0.75 billion, which is $250 million higher than the original offer," the central bank said.

The weighted average yield was 3.844 per cent, down from 3.855 per cent at the last issue on January 17.

The central bank received bids worth $1.226bn, with yields on the accepted bids ranging from 3.8 to 3.85 per cent. The bank had originally offered $500m.

The average yield at the last issue of dollar-denominated T-bills on January 18 was 3.855 per cent.