The leu opened at 4.4470 to the euro, lower than 4.45 to the euro at closing Wednesday. It further gained ground to an early high of RON4.4433 at GMT 0715.
Romania’s central bank is prepared to use all its available tools to parry potential speculative attacks against the leu if the national currency weakens too much, but its recent depreciation versus the euro doesn’t call for drastic measures, central bank governor Mugur Isarescu said Wednesday. However, fluctuations of 1% to 3% of the exchange rate fall within a balance zone and cannot be classified as having any particular significance, he added.
The central bank Wednesday set the leu’s reference at 4.4441 to the euro, the strongest rate in five weeks. Against the US dollar, the leu’s indicative gained 0.4% on the day to 3.5573 units.
On the money market Thursday morning, overnight rates were at 4.25%-4.75% a year.