Investing.com - The European Central Bank kept monetary policy on hold on Thursday, but said it would extend its asset purchase program for an additional nine months beyond its scheduled end in March 2017 at its final policy meeting of 2016.
The ECB left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record-low of zero, in line with forecasts.
The bank kept the deposit facility rate steady at -0.4%, the marginal lending rate at 0.25% and maintained the size of its monthly quantitative easing program at €80 billion until the end of March 2017.
From April 2017, the net asset purchases are intended to continue at a monthly pace of €60 billion until the end of December 2017, or beyond, if necessary, the ECB statement said.
Traders were looking ahead to the banks post-policy meeting press conference with President Mario Draghi at 13:30GMT, or 8:30AM ET.
The ECB chief was likely to touch on the situation in Italy, where efforts to recapitalize its ailing banking sector are continuing.
The bank was also due present updated economic forecasts.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.0854 from around 1.0794 ahead of the announcement.
The dollar hit fresh three-week lows against a basket of six other major currencies, with the U.S. dollar index down 0.42% to 99.83, the lowest level since November 15.
European stock markets extended gains, with the benchmark Euro Stoxx 50 up 0.73%. France's CAC 40 added 0.27%, Germany's DAX advanced 0.32% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.23%.