Against the US dollar, the leu’s indicative won nearly 0.9% on the day at 2.872 units.
The leu opened at 4.1125/4.115 per euro, from 4.114/4.116 per euro at Thursday’s closing and further gained ground, following positive data for the first quarter economic growth which indicate the country has emerged from a two and a half year recession.
At around GMT1000, the leu traded at 4.1065/4.108 to the euro, after hitting an early high of 4.103 to the euro.
The Romanian economy expanded by 0.6% in the first quarter, after a meager recovery of just 0.1% three months earlier, a flash estimate of the country’s statistics institute showed earlier Friday.
Preliminary adjusted data showed the first-quarter gross domestic product increased by 0.3% from the same period of 2010. In unadjusted data, the annual growth was 1.6%.
On the money market, overnight rates were flat at 2.8%-3.3% a year.