ECONOMICS - November 6th 2004 The tremors on the currency market hit the exchange offices hard. The sudden appreciation of the local currency against the dollar and the euro forced exchange offices to either sell the hard currency under the price they bought it at, or to close shop for the day. DANIELA IVAN

Caution, this was the most appropriate word to describe the mood at exchange offices on down-town Magheru Boulevard. The owners there are in disarray: they do not know at what price to buy or sell, or if currencies will continue to fluctuate and in what direction. "The risk for the business is higher now. I lost money on the first day and now I keep a wide difference between the sell and buy prices, both for euros and dollars. I do this because I want to wait for future developments and minimize the risks," said the owner of one such exchange office.

Most other owners acted the same, keeping at 1,000 to 1,500 ROL the difference between the buy and sell prices. Some others though took a bold approach and shrank the price difference, which came in line with the policy of the Romanian National Bank, which depreciated the leu with 400 units against the euro and 200 units against the dollar.

The first exchange office to announce a buy rate of 39,400 lei and a sell rate of 39,930 lei for the euro got its first customer with a seasable amount of money to change in ten minutes: "I sell 3,500 euros here, because I found here the best exchange rate and I need the money today," said the customer. The currency market was live and awake, with rates changing three times by noon yesterday. "This is nothing," said one employee of an exchange house. "Thursday we changed the rates ten times, each time higher than the last," added he.

The same movement was recorded at exchange offices run by banks. One such office opened with 39,100 lei for the euro;