Investing.com - The euro rose to session highs against the dollar and the yen on Thursday after the European Central Bank refrained from tightening monetary policy, and slightly upgraded its forecast for growth this year.
EUR/USD hit 1.3818, the strongest since December 27 and was last up 0.60% to 1.3814.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3720, the session low and resistance at 1.3860.
The euro was boosted after ECB President Mario Draghi confirmed that the bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.5%, with the latest economic data indicating that “the moderate economic recovery in the euro zone is proceeding.”
Draghi reiterated the ECB’s forward guidance on rates, saying that interest rates will remain at their present levels, or lower for an extended period. The ECB remains determined to maintain the high degree of accommodative monetary policy for as long as needed, and will take further actions as it sees fit, he added.
The central bank revised its forecast for economic growth in 2014 to 1.2% from 1.1% in December.
However, the bank revised down its inflation forecast for this year to 1.0% from 1.1% in December. The bank expects inflation to pick up to 1.3% in 2015 and 1.5% in 2016, remaining below the bank’s target of just under 2%.
The euro extended gains against the yen, with EUR/JPY jumping 1.42% to 142.50. The pair fell to lows of 138.77 last week as concerns over the crisis in Ukraine weighed.
Elsewhere, the common currency rose to eight-day highs against the pound, with EUR/GBP advancing 0.66% to 0.8267.
Earlier Thursday the Bank of England left U.K. interest rates unchanged at their record low of 0.5%, and also left its quantitative easing program steady at 375 billion pounds.