The national currency has seen one of the biggest gains among its peers against euro in the first quarter this year, a recent analysis by X-Trade Brokers found.
The national currency rose 3.44% in the first three months this year, from 4.2258 lei/euro to 4.0803 lei/euro, according to X-Trade Brokers platform quotes.
The ruble scored the biggest gain versus the single European currency, that made a bold 8.07% leap in the Jan-March period. The ruble has made a firm stand against its US counterpart as well with 2.58% rise, notwithstanding the dollar’s rally against most currencies.
“Russia’s economic power is strengthening considerably and the ruble is rising both against euro and US dollar. In the first quarter this year, of all the European currencies, the ruble recorded the biggest appreciation against euro, the sharp devaluation of the euro being doubled by the favorable economic performance of the Russian federation”, said Victor Safta (photo), chief executive of X-Trade Brokers Romania.
The Polish zloty came out second, with 6.15% rise against euro in the three months ending March 31. Most of the European currencies recorded gains between 2-5%: Swedish krona – 4.71%, Swiss franc – 4.01%, Czech koruna – 3.61%.
Of all the east-European currencies, forint had the weakest performance versus its European peer with only 1.92% rise.
“The appreciation of the east-European currencies is not favoring their economies, because it holds back exports: except for the Russian federation that, being the world’s largest oil exporter, it exports anyway, since oil is becoming a valuable and expensive commodity by day”, said Victor Safta.
Against the world’s most important currencies traded on X-Trade platform, euro fell the most against the Canadian dollar, 8.81%.
“The market has been extremely volatile in the first quarter, with a host o
