Markets rally after ECB meeting

Investors' attention on Thursday was focused on the meeting of the European Central Bank, which would make clear what will be the monetary policy of the Bank in the coming months. The institution reduced by 10 basis points to minus 0.4 interest rates on deposits, a decision that coincided with market expectations. Moreover, the monthly volume of purchases by quantitative easing program was increased from 60 billion to 80 billion Euros. Another important decision that surprised the markets was the reduction of the basic interest rate from 0.05% to 0.00%.

Following the publication of the data the euro fell to 1.0820. During the press conference Mario Draghi said that a further reduction of interest rates on deposits "will not be necessary." This led to a a strong rise of the single currency, as EUR/USD climbed to 1.1217 - a movement of almost four figures.

The dollar index, showing the performance of the greenback fell 1.24 percent to 96.07 after the greenback retreated against most of the currencies included in the basket.

Greenback recorded a good performance against commodity currencies that were under pressure due to the fall in oil prices. The dollar managed to advance against the Canadian dollar by 0.6 percent. The Australian dollar retreated against the dollar by 0.3 percent to 0.7460. Only New Zealand dollar performed well after it managed to rise against the US money by 0.4%.