Investing.com - The euro fell to session lows against the dollar on Thursday after the European Central Bank left rates on hold at record lows, as investors awaited comments by President Mario Draghi at the bank’s post-policy meeting press conference.
EUR/USD hit lows of 1.3490 and was last down 0.24% to 1.3500.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3476, last Friday’s low and a ten-week low and resistance at 1.3572, last Friday’s high.
The ECB voted to leave interest rates across the euro zone unchanged at their record low of 0.25%.
It also left the deposit rate unchanged at zero and the marginal lending rate, which banks pay to borrow from the ECB, unchanged.
Markets were awaiting Draghi’s press conference for any indications on whether any members of the governing council pushed for a rate cut, or other stimulus measures at the meeting.
The ECB head was also expected to indicate how the bank could act in the coming months amid growing concerns over the threat of deflation in the euro area.
Data last week showed that the annual rate of inflation in the euro zone slowed to 0.7% in January. It was the fourth consecutive month the inflation rate came in at less than 1% and was well below the ECB’s target of 2%.
Safe haven demand for the dollar continued to be underpinned ahead of Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for January, after poor U.S. manufacturing data earlier in the week sparked concerns over a possible slowdown in the economic recovery.
Data released on Wednesday showed that the U.S. service sector expanded at the fastest rate in four months in January, while another report showed that the U.S. private sector added 175,000 jobs in January, below expectations for jobs growth of 180,000.
Elsewhere, the euro also slipped lower against the pound, with EUR/GBP down 0.14% to 0.8286.
The Bank of England left interest rates unchanged at record lows of 0.5% following its meeting on Thursday, where they have been unchanged since March 2009.
The bank also made no change to its quantitative easing program, which remains at 375 billion pounds.