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.