CAIRO - Average yields on Egypt's six-month and one-year treasury bills dipped at auction on Thursday, data from the central bank showed.

The yield on the 182-day bill dipped to 18.951 percent from 19.080 percent at the last similar auction, and the yield on the 364-day bill fell to 17.985 percent from 18.447 percent.

Foreign holdings in Egyptian treasuries totalled 311.6 billion Egyptian pounds ($17.7 billion) as of Oct. 10, up from 308 billion pounds a week earlier, said Sami Khallaf, the head of public debt at the finance ministry.

Foreign contributions in both tenors on Thursday amounted to 4.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($255 million), Khallaf said.

Demand for Egypt's domestic debt has grown since the central bank raised key interest rates by 700 basis points since November after floating the pound currency.

($1 = 17.6250 Egyptian pounds)

(Reporting by Arwa Gaballa and Eric Knecht; editing by John Stonestreet) ((arwa.gaballa@thomsonreuters.com; +20 2 2578 3290;))