Investing.com - The euro held gains against the dollar on Thursday after the European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged, as investors awaited its post-policy meeting press conference later in the day.
EUR/USD was up 0.28% to 1.2518, from around 1.2523 ahead of the announcement.
The ECB’s governing council voted to keep its headline interest rate on hold at record lows of 0.05%. The bank also held the marginal lending rate at 0.3% and the deposit facility rate at minus 0.2%, in a widely anticipated decision.
Investors were looking to the bank’s press conference later Thursday for assurances that it remains prepared to implement additional stimulus measures if needed, in order to spur growth and inflation in the euro area.
The bank’s latest press conference was given extra significance following recent reports of tensions within the ECB over President Mario Draghi’s leadership.
Earlier Thursday, data showed that German factory orders rose just 0.8% in September, well below forecasts of a 2.3% increase.
The weak data fuelled concerns over the outlook for the euro area’s largest economy.
The single currency was also higher against the yen, with EUR/JPY rising 0.23% to 143.46.
Elsewhere, the dollar was almost unchanged against the yen, with USD/JPY at 114.64, holding below the highs of 115.52 struck overnight, the most since November 2007.
The dollar rallied on Wednesday, climbing to seven year peaks against the yen, following gains by Republicans in the U.S. mid-term elections and a strong private sector jobs report.
The ADP nonfarm payrolls report showed that the U.S. private sector added 230,000 jobs in October, ahead of expectations for jobs growth of 220,000.
Separately, the Institute of Supply Management said that its non-manufacturing index slowed to 57.1 last month from 58.6 in September.
However, the employment component of the index rose, boosting the outlook for the labor market ahead of Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls report.