October 15 (SeeNews) - The Romanian leu closed steady against the euro on Monday, despite news the country's current account deficit has increased sharply, dealers said.
The leu opened at around 3.3350/60 versus the euro and was traded calmly during the day, to end at 3.3350/80, unaffected by central bank data indicating the country's current account deficit through August has nearly doubled on the year, one dealer told SeeNews. The leu closed at 3.3380/420 on Friday.
Romania's current account deficit for the first eight months of 2007 swelled to 10.228 billion euro ($14.5 billion) from 5.466 billion euro a year earlier due to a widening trade gap, the central bank said earlier on Monday. Romania's trade deficit through August rose by 73% year-on-year reaching 10.714 billion euro on a FOB/FOB (free-on-board) basis,
The Romanian central bank (BNR) set its reference exchange rate, used for statistical purposes, at 3.3348 lei per euro on Monday, compared to 3.3366 on Friday. For the dollar, the reference exchange rate was set at 2.3440 versus Friday’s 2.3539 lei.
Interest rates on overnight leu deposits rose to an average of 6.48%/7.23% on Monday, compared to 5.93%/6.74% on Friday.
Turnover on the interbank leu deposit market rose to 6.089 billion lei on Friday from 1.702 billion lei on Thursday. The BNR will issue Monday's figures on Tuesday.
Following are Monday'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 percent):
|
|
BUBID |
BUBOR |
| ON |
6.48 |
7.23 |
| TN |
6.43 |
7.26 |
| SW |
6.53 |
7.26 |
| 1M |
6.73 |
7.54 |
| 3M |
6.81 |
7.63 |
| 6M |
6.79 |
7.69 |
| 9M |
6.79 |
7.69 |
| 12M |
6.76 |
7.66 |