Romanian leu weakens vs euro in large volumes

The local currency closed at 4.4700/4750 per euro compared to 4.4567/4638 on Friday, a local dealer told SeeNews.

The leu changed hands between 4.4500 and 4.4750 per euro during the trading session and the traded volumes were large, the dealer said.

Romania's central bank, BNR, set its reference exchange rate at 4.4639 lei per euro compared to 4.4597 per euro on Friday. For the U.S. dollar, BNR set its reference exchange rate at 3.2458 lei versus 3.2305 lei on Friday.

Turnover on the Romanian interbank leu deposit market rose to 2.0 billion lei on Friday from 1.4 billion lei on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday were non-working days in Romania due to the Christmas holidays. The central bank will issue Monday's turnover figure on Tuesday.

Interest rates on overnight leu deposits decreased to 1.16%/1.66% from 1.61%/2.11% on Friday.