Against the US dollar, however, the leu’s indicative lost 0.6% on the day to 3.5503 units.
The leu opened down at 4.578/4.58 per euro, from 4.5715/4.574 per euro at Tuesday close, but further appreciated, with dealers suspecting a covert intervention from the central bank to support the national currency.
At around 1:00 pm, the leu traded near 4.565 to the euro.
“We still expect the leu will continue to weaken toward 4.6 versus the euro in the next weeks, but we may see a possible slowdown in the depreciation due to the unexpected surge in consumer prices,” ING Bank said in a report Wednesday.
Romania’s annual inflation jumped to 5.33% in September, the highest rate this year, with consumer prices advancing 1.2% month-on-month.
In the money market, overnight rates rose to 5%-5.5% a year, from 4.8%-5.3% a year Tuesday.