Romanian Leu Ends Tad Firmer vs Euro, Unfazed by Prelim First-round Results in Presidential Vote

The leu ended at 4.2780/2795 per euro, compared to 4.2800/2860 per euro on Friday.

"The leu remained stuck around the 4.28-per-euro level during the day and firmed slightly by the end of trading in line with other currencies of emerging markets in the region," one dealer told SeeNews.

The Polish zloty led the gains on European emerging markets on Monday, appreciating by around 0.6%. The Hungarian forint and the Czech crown were 0.3% and 0.2% stronger against the euro, respectively.

"The leu did not react in any way to the results from the first round of the presidential elections. We have to see how the winner will proceed and how the political scene will work itself out in terms of pressing on with reforms prescribed under the aid deal with the International Monetary Fund," the dealer said.

Incumbent centrist Traian Basescu, leading with a slim margin after the first round of the ballot, will face Social Democrat leader Mircea Geoana in a run-off vote, partial official results indicated on Monday.

The winner in the run-off, to be held on December 6, will name the country's next prime minister who will have to restart key economic and judicial reforms in order to win back the trust of international lenders, a key condition for the release of the next installments of a 20-billion euro bailout package led by the IMF.

Romania’s central bank, BNR, set its reference exchange rate at 4.2809 lei per euro on Monday, compared to 4.2817 on Friday. For the U.S. dollar, the BNR set its reference exchange rate at 2.858 lei versus Friday’s 2.878.

Turnover on the interbank leu deposit market rose to 3.484 billion lei on Friday from 2.381 billion lei on Thursday. The BNR will issue Monday’s turnover figures on Tuesday.

Interest rates on overnight leu deposits fell to 3.94%/4.44% on Monday from 5.57%/6.07% on Friday.