Romanian Leu Firms Further vs Euro As Bank of England Cuts Key Interest Rate

December 6 (SeeNews) - The Romanian leu closed stronger versus the euro on Thursday as the Bank of England cut its key interest rate by a quarter-point, dealers said.

"The leu opened at about 3.5190/210 per euro and managed to stay at these levels during the day, mainly because the Bank of England today cut its key interest rate to 5.5%", one dealer told SeeNews. "The overnight rates remained high and so the leu closed at 3.5180/240 per euro, stronger than yesterday," he added.

The leu ended at 3.5340/65 per euro on Wednesday.

The Romanian central bank (BNR) set its reference exchange rate, used for statistical purposes, at 3.5199 per euro on Thursday, compared to 3.5463 on Wednesday. For the dollar, the reference exchange rate was set at 2.4155 versus Wednesday's 2.4089 lei.

Interest rates on overnight leu deposits were at an average 7.13%/7.78% on Thursday from 7.11%/7.74% on Wednesday.

Turnover on the interbank leu deposit market rose to 1,253.4 million lei on Wednesday from 838.7 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. (0900 GMT) by the BNR, based on data provided by 10 commercial banks (in percent):