BANKS EXTEND TRADING HALT IN LEBANESE POUND
  Lebanon's Bankers Association said it
  extended its suspension of trading in the Lebanese pound for
  two more working days to study ways to stem the currency's
  collapse.
      The Central Bank did not post the rate of the pound to the
  dollar and other currencies on Monday. The pound closed on
  Thursday at 407.00/412.00 to the dollar compared with
  Wednesday's close of 384.00/386.00.
      Association sources told Reuters Friday's suspension of
  trading for two working days was continued on Monday for two
  more days so as to study proposals to reinforce the pound.
      The Association, which comprises 106 commercial banks in
  east and west Beirut, halted trading on Friday in a chaotic
  market after the pound crashed to four record lows in the week.
      The pound, hit by the inability of Lebanon's religiously
  and ideologically divided government to end 12 years of civil
  war, has lost more than 80 pct of its international value this
  year.
  

