Quietness prevailed at the Egyptian Exchange markets on Tuesday which was the first day of implementing the new exchange mechanism as announced by the Egyptian premier, Atef Ebeid, in a governmental statement to the parliament Monday.
Dealing started Tuesday with the exchange companies pricing the dollar at 395 Egyptian piasters (buying) and 399 piasters (selling), which represented a marked decrease in the prices that prevailed at the beginning of last week. Trading volumes were limited in general.
The Egyptian Al Ahram daily said Wednesday that bankers had welcomed the launching of the new mechanism to varying degrees. Some asserted that the new mechanism would restore discipline to the foreign exchange markets after the confusion which occurred recently, while others preferred to wait few days before evaluating the results of the new procedure.
The new exchange mechanism depends on quoting the average pound’s price against the dollar and also the other currencies on the basis of the average dealing prices over the past three months with a margin of movement upwards and downwards at a rate of 2 percent according to the market fluctuations —Albawaba.com
