Egypt pound closes weaker after banks reopen

The Egyptian pound weakened on Sunday after the nation's banks reopened from a three-day closure caused by worker strikes and protests. The pound weakened to 5.885 to the US dollar, down from 5.877 when banks were last open on Sunday of last week, a dealer said.
"It was business as usual. The market was cautious and professional," said a second trader. Some $340 million traded in the interbank currency market, he added.
The pound weakened to as low as 5.96 to the dollar on February 8, three days before the fall of Hosni Mubarak, from 5.816 before political protests erupted on January 25, but rebounded after the central bank intervened to support it. Dozens of customers queued outside the branches of state-owned banks in Cairo in the morning, while the branches of private banks were operating normally, Reuters witnesses said.
There were no signs of the worker protests outside the main state banks similar to those last Sunday that prompted the central bank to shut down all banks, state and private, the following day.
Tuesday of last week was a bank holiday marking the Prophet Mohamed's birthday.
Sunday was only the seventh day that banks had opened their doors for business since January 27.