Euro holds firm after ECB leaves options open for Sept cut

LONDON (Reuters) – The euro held steady on Thursday, as did euro zone government bond yields after the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged, and did not signal a cut in September was imminent.

The euro was last at $1.09325, having traded around $1.09278 earlier. Against the pound, the euro was up 0.12% on the day at 84.20 pence, compared with 84.175 pence ahead of the ECB decision.

President Christine Lagarde delivers a press conference at 1245 GMT that could shed more light on the details of the central bank’s decision and policymakers’ thinking on the likely path for interest rates.

German two-year bond yields, the most sensitive to changes in expectations for interest rates, were up 1.3 basis points on the day at 2.789%, unchanged from where they had traded prior to the decision.

The gap between two- and 10-year yields narrowed a touch to -34.9 bps from -35.3 bps previously.

European stocks were up 0.4%.