Romania's Leu Breaks Through 3.75-per-Euro Mark, Further Falls Expected

"The bad news that keeps coming about international banks merging and getting nationalised and about the U.S. financial crisis will most probably lead to a further depreciation of the leu by the end of the week," a dealer with a Bucharest-based bank told SeeNews.

The last time the leu was traded cheaper was March 17, at 3.7608 per euro, central bank data showed.

The leu has been caught in the middle of risk aversion and panic on the international markets in the last two weeks following bank collapses in the U.S. and uncertainty regarding the approval of a $700 million U.S. government bailout plan for the financial sector.

Romania's central bank, BNR, set its reference exchange rate used for statistical purposes at 3.7336 lei per euro on Tuesday, compared to 3.7028 lei per euro on Monday. For the U.S. dollar, the reference exchange rate was set at 2.5957 lei versus Monday's 2.5830 lei.

Interest rates on overnight leu deposits rose to an average 13.36%/14.04% on Tuesday, compared to 11.16%/11.66% on Monday.

Turnover on the interbank leu deposit market fell to 1,778.4 million lei on Monday from 1.9 billion lei on Friday. The BNR will issue Tuesday's figures on Wednesday.

Following are Tuesday's average bid and ask quotes of commercial banks on Romania's interbank market. They were calculated at 11 a.m. (0800 GMT) by the BNR, based on data provided by 10 commercial banks (in pct):