Romanian leu reached 10-month high against euro after Reuters exclusive report

The Romanian leu rose 0.7 percent to a 10-month high against the euro on March 22 after Reuters exclusively reported rare comments on the currency by the central bank, which analysts said amounted to verbal intervention to strengthen the currency. Lucian Croitoru, an adviser to the central bank governor, told Reuters correspondent Radu Marinas that recent strength of the leu was underpinned by economic fundamentals, which traders interpreted as implying the central bank was comfortable with the pace of appreciation and was unlikely to intervene to weaken the currency any time soon. The central bank publicly confirmed the comments on national television several hours after the Reuters report, which was widely cited by traders and analysts including JP Morgan, ING, Nomura and BNP. Bloomberg and Dow Jones did not match it.