September 17 (SeeNews) - Romanian leu on Monday lost ground further, touching a six-month low as news of the country's widening current account gap boosted higher demand for euro from foreigners, dealers said.
"The leu opened at 3.3600/20 per euro and at the moment [0930 GMT] trades at 3.3900", one dealer told SeeNews.
The leu last traded cheaper on March 5, closing at 3.3930/80 lei per euro. It ended at 3.3620/80 on Friday.
"Yes, it's because of last week's news," the dealer said, asked if the central bank's data on the country's current account balance released on Friday might have caused the leu's downfall. "Little by little, it goes in the direction of the 3.40 threshold," he added.
Romania's current account deficit for the first seven months of 2007 widened by 98% on the year to 8.968 billion euro ($12.4 billion) due to a widening trade gap, the central bank (BNR) said on Friday.
Romania's trade deficit through July rose by 73.6% year-on-year reaching 9.353 billion euro on a FOB/FOB (free-on-board) basis, BNR said.
($ = 0.7213 euro)