Euro, pound gain on greenback

Story link: Euro, pound gain on greenback

The euro and the pound both gained on the US dollar Thursday after the European Central Bank and the Bank of England each decided to keep interest rates on hold for the time being.

In the case of the ECB, rates were held at 4 percent, where they have been for nearly a year, while the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to keep interest rates at 5 percent.

The euro was supported by comments from ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet about the threat of inflation, which were seen as a sign that Eurozone interest rates won’t come down in the near term.

In late morning trade in New York, the dollar traded at $1.5404 to the euro and at $1.9571 to the pound.

The yen gained against all major currencies as Asia-Pacific region equities saw declines, which lowered investor appetite for risky carry trades.

At around 11:30 a.m. in New York the yen traded at ¥159.8935 to the euro and at ¥103.8000 to the greenback, while it took ¥80.326 to buy a New Zealand dollar and ¥97.8782 to buy an Australian dollar.

The kiwi was also down versus the US dollar, to 77.27 cents US, on fewer jobs in New Zealand, but the Australian currency came back from declines against the dollar to a value of 94.29 cents US to the Aussie as jobs grew at a faster pace than had been anticipated.