October 19 (SeeNews) - The Romanian leu closed a tad weaker against the euro on Monday in a trading session marked by low volumes, dealers said.
The leu ended at 4.2890/2940 per euro, compared to 4.2875/2895 per euro on Friday.
The Romanian currency opened near the 4.29 per euro notch amid low investor interest, which was probably due to their reluctance to take risks in anticipation of a central bank intervention, one dealer told SeeNews.
Romania’s central bank, BNR, does not comment on its foreign exchange operations.
Local politics continued to weigh on the leu on Monday, dealers said. On Thursday, Romania’s President Traian Basescu nominated Lucian Croitoru, an advisor to the central bank governor, as prime minister-designate, two days after the country’s minority government fell in a no-confidence vote.
The BNR set its reference exchange rate at 4.2903 per euro on Monday, compared to 4.2937 per euro on Friday. For the U.S. dollar, the BNR set its reference exchange rate at 2.8697 versus Friday’s 2.8798.
Turnover on the interbank leu deposit market rose to 3.143 billion lei on Friday from 2.728 billion lei on Thursday. The BNR will issue Monday’s turnover figures on Tuesday.
Interest rates on overnight leu deposits fell to 9.75%/10.25% on Monday from 10.12%/10.62% on Friday.