Against the US dollar, the leu gained 0.4% and the central bank set a reference rate of 2.9064 units, from 2.9189 units on Thursday.
The leu opened Friday little changed from previous closing at 4.129/4.131 to the euro and further strenghtened towards 4.124/4.126 to the euro, in line with the regional trend.
But later, the sentiment in the region deteriorated, following Fitch’s downgrade of Japan’s rating outlook to negative due to increasing public debt, and the leu lost its early gains. At around 13:00 local time (GMT1000), the leu traded above 4.13 per euro.
On the monetary market, overnight rates rose to 4.25%-4.75% a year, from 4%-4.5% a year on Thursday