The leu opened at 4.505/4.507 to the euro, stronger than 4.516/4.5185 to the euro at Wednesday closing.
Later on, several euro sale orders placed by a foreign investor moved the leu below 4.5 units. It traded at 4.4995/4.502 per euro at around 10:00 local time (GMT0800), after touching an early high at 4.4985 per euro.
“The transferred volumes are very high compared with the previous sessions, and most probably the orders were placed by a foreign player,” a banking dealer said.
The leu’s increase was also due to optimism on international markets, following news on positive developments in discussions to trim the budget deficit between the White House and the US Congress.
In other markets, the Polish zloty was up 0.2% against the euro, while the Hungarian forint was gaining 0.3%.
Romania’s central bank set Wednesday the leu’s official rate at 4.5118 per euro, slightly weaker on the day.
On the money market Thursday morning, overnight rates were higher at 6.25%-6.75% a year, on reduced liquidity.