September 8 (SeeNews) - The Romanian leu closed a tad stronger versus the euro on Tuesday, tracking the currencies on other emerging markets in the region, dealers said.
The leu ended at 4.2410/2430 per euro, compared to 4.2440/2470 per euro on Monday.
"The leu closed a little bit stronger. Other emerging currencies also posted no big movements today and also closed a little bit firmer," one dealer told SeeNews, adding he expects the leu to appreciate this week.
The Hungarian forint, the Czech crown and Polish zloty notched up very modest rises on Tuesday.
Raiffeisen Research said in its weekly Focus FX forecast on Tuesday that "non-resident players’ interest in the Romanian leu is still lax, as reflected by the low volumes in the forex market. The exchange rate is mainly driven by orders from local players, banks and companies."
"A flat exchange rate in the next period seems the most likely scenario at the moment," it said, adding it sees no risks for a depreciation trend in the period ahead.
“The central bank tightened its control over liquidity in the market and most likely would not hesitate to step into the market if depreciation pressures strengthen.”
The Romanian central bank, BNR, set its reference exchange rate at 4.2382 per euro on Tuesday, compared to 4.2434 per euro on Monday. For the U.S. dollar, the BNR set the reference exchange rate at 2.9292 versus Monday’s 2.9572.
Turnover on the interbank leu deposit market fell to some 2.045 billion lei on Monday from 2.850 billion lei on Friday. The BNR will issue Tuesday’s turnover figures on Wednesday.
Interest rates on overnight leu deposits fell to 8.50%/9.00% on Tuesday from 9.17%/9.67%.on Monday.