CAIRO, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Egypt's central bank offered $40 million to banks at a currency auction on Monday and said it would hold further sales on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Egyptian pound has lost more than 8 percent of its value against the dollar since the central bank introduced the dollar sales late December in an effort to avoid a currency crisis.

(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Heavens) Keywords: EGYPT AUCTION/

(thomas.perry@thomsonreuters.com)

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