CAIRO: The Egyptian pound edged weaker in slow trade on Sunday after the nation's banks reopened from a three-day closure caused by worker strikes and protests.
The pound was trading at 5.883 to the US dollar, down from 5.877 when banks were last open on Sunday of last week, a dealer said.
"It is very quiet and slow. There are a few trades at 5.883," a trader working in a bank treasury room said.
The pound weakened to as low as 5.96 to the dollar on Feb. 8, three days before the fall of Hosni Mubarak, from 5.816 before political protests erupted on Jan. 25, but rebounded after the central bank intervened to support it.
Dozens of customers had earlier queued outside the branches of state-owned banks in Cairo, while the branches of private banks in the Zamalek district of the city 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 the seventh day that banks had opened their doors for business since Jan. 27.
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