Yields at Egypt auction of 5-year bonds

CAIRO, Dec 24 (Reuters) - The maximum yield at an auction of 500 million Egyptian pounds ($81 million) of five-year bonds edged up to 14.37 percent on Monday from 14.25 percent two weeks earlier, the central bank said.

Bond yields climbed after a political battle that broke out over the country's new constitution last month threatened to undermine the government's efforts to prop up the economy and public finances.

"Rates are climbing due to the elevated economic and political risk," said a Cairo-based fixed income manager.

Standard & Poors' cut Egypt's long-term credit rating on Monday and said another cut was possible if the political turmoil continued.

The yield on the five-year bonds, which mature on Nov. 13, 2017, ranged from to 13.90 percent to 14.37 percent compared to 14.00 to 14.25 percent at an auction on Dec. 10.

The ministry of finance, which normally provides average yields, did not release a figure on Monday. The average yield on five-year bonds at a Dec. 10 auction was 14.163 percent.

Settlement for the bonds will take place on Nov. 13. The central bank sells the bonds on behalf of the finance ministry. ($1 = 6.1672 Egyptian pounds)

(Reporting by Patrick Werr; editing by Ron Askew)