The leu opened at 4.4655/4.4675 to the euro, similar to Thursday closing levels.
It soon started to lose ground and touched an early low at 4.4695, before returning towards 4.467/4.469 units by 10:00 am.
The leu’s depreciation is mild, but if the quotes are nearing 4.47, a dealer said, the central bank might sell euros to avoid a new all-time low of the reference rate (the current historic low is 4.4662 pe euro, set on May 24).
On Thursday, the central bank set the leu’s exchange rate at 4.4635 per euro, close to 4.463 per euro a day before.
On the money market Friday morning, overnight rates rose to 1.5%-2% a year, from 1.1%-1.6% a year in the previous session.