Romanian Leu Ends Cheaper in Low Volumes

"There is more liquidity on the market compared to recent weeks but less foreign investors buy lei because of the uncertainty around the upcoming elections," one dealer told SeeNews. "Trading is calm and volumes are low, unlike on other emerging markets like Hungary and Poland," he said, adding that that situation was to continue through the next two weeks.

Romania will hold parliamentary elections on November 30. So far, polls have shown no clear winner.

Romania's central bank, BNR, set its reference exchange rate used for statistical purposes at 3.7148 lei per euro on Thursday, compared to 3.6829 on Wednesday. For the U.S. dollar, the reference exchange rate was set at 2.8828 lei versus Wednesday's 2.8590 lei.

Interest rates on overnight leu deposits were set at an average of 14.00%/17.53% compared to 14.03%/17.53% on Wednesday.

Turnover on the interbank leu deposit market rose to 634.7 million lei on Wednesday from 588.9 million lei on Tuesday. The BNR will issue Thursday's figures on Friday.

Following are Thursday's average bid and ask quotes of commercial banks on Romania's interbank market. They were calculated at 11 a.m. (0800 GMT) by the BNR, based on data provided by 10 commercial banks (in pct):