CAIRO- Fifty-one brokerages have been granted a licence to offer short-selling on the Cairo bourse, a senior official at the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) told Reuters on Monday.

The move came a day after the regulator said it had decided to start allowing short-selling on Dec. 1, a measure officials hope will boost liquidity.

Egypt's exchange has nearly 128 brokerage companies.

(Reporting by Ehab Farouk; Writing by Mahmoud Mourad; Editing by Ulf Laessing and Mark Potter) ((Mahmoud.Mourad@thomsonreuters.com))