Romanian Leu Weakens vs Euro

The leu ended at 4.2620/2670 per euro, compared to 4.2585/2625 per euro on Thursday.

“The leu was quite stable today, same as currencies on the other emerging markets in the region. The leu changed hands between an intraday high of 4.2525 per euro and an intraday low of 4.2695,” one dealer told SeeNews.

The Romanian central bank, BNR, set its reference exchange rate at 4.2658 per euro on Friday, compared to 4.2579 per euro on Thursday. For the U.S. dollar, the BNR set the reference exchange rate at 2.9014 versus Thursday’s 2.8873.

Turnover on the interbank leu deposit market jumped to 4.459 billion lei on Thursday from 2.784 billion lei on Wednesday. The BNR will issue Friday’s turnover figures on Monday.

"Romania’s central bank is very cautious regarding what is happening with the leu and allows no major fluctuations of the exchange rate. The bank intervened yesterday on the market, buying 2.5 billion lei to help the exchange rate," the dealer said.

Interest rates on overnight leu deposits rose to 8.25%/8.75% on Friday from 7.58%/8.08% on Thursday.