Romanian leu firms vs euro on U.S. Fed's easing

The leu ended at 4.5020/4.5050 per euro compared to 4.5150/5170 on Thursday.

It opened at 4.4970/4500 per euro and gained ground to an intraday high of 4.4900 on the back of the outcome of the U.S. Fed meeting on Thursday evening, one dealer told SeeNews.

The currency retreated slightly later in the day in tune with other emerging markets currencies, she added.

On Thursday, the U.S Federal Open Market Committee decided to buy bonds until the U.S. jobs market recovers. It would inject $40 billion into the U.S. economy each month. Compared to previous rounds of quantitative easing, the program has no end date.

Romania's central bank, BNR, set its reference exchange rate at 4.5042 lei per euro on Friday, compared to 4.5073 lei on Thursday. For the U.S. dollar, BNR set the reference exchange rate at 3.4514 versus 3.4882 lei on Thursday.

Turnover on the Romanian interbank leu deposit market fell to 1.3 billion lei on Thursday from 1.4 billion lei on Wednesday. The central bank will issue Friday's turnover figure on Monday.

Interest rates on overnight leu deposits fell to 4.53%/5.03% on Friday from 4.57%/5.07% on Thursday.