Investing.com - The euro fell to fresh nine-year lows against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, after an interim ruling by the European Court of Justice cleared the way for the European Central Bank to implement quantitative easing measures.
EUR/USD hit 1.1727 during European morning trade, the pair's lowest since November 2005 and was last at 1.1759.
The drop in the euro came after the advocate general of the European Court of Justice, Pedro Cruz Villalon, advised judges to approve the ECB's Outright Monetary Transactions program, a measure which was launched in 2012, with conditions.
Villalon said the ECB must avoid any direct involvement in the financial assistance program that applies to the State concerned.
The ruling was seen as giving the ECB leeway at its upcoming policy meeting on January 22, when many expect it to implement full blown QE measures.
Also Wednesday, data showed that euro zone industrial production rose 0.2% in November, in line with expectations, but factory output was down 0.4% on a year-over-year basis.
Meanwhile, oil was hit after the World Bank cut its forecasts for global growth on Tuesday, adding to fears over the faltering economic recovery. Oil prices continued to tumble on Wednesday after falling to almost six year lows in the previous session, after OPEC said it will not cut output despite a global supply glut.
The rout in oil, which has halved in value in six months, has fuelled concerns of exacerbating already low levels of inflation in many major world economies, including the euro zone.
Data last week showed that consumer prices in the euro area fell in December for the first time since October 2009.
The euro fell to five-year lows against the pound, with EUR/GBP hitting lows of 0.7738..
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce data on retail sales, in addition to reports on import prices and business inventories.