Euro Muted After ECB Decision

The euro showed muted trading against its major counterparts in the European session on Thursday, after the European Central Bank left its key interest rates, asset purchases and forward guidance unchanged amid sluggish growth and low inflation.

The Governing Council decided to hold the refi rate unchanged at a record low 0 percent, the deposit rate at -0.50 percent and the marginal lending rate at 0.25 percent. The move was in line with economists' expectations.

The bank also retained its forward guidance on both interest rates and asset purchases.

"The Governing Council expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present or lower levels until it has seen the inflation outlook robustly converge to a level sufficiently close to, but below, 2 percent within its projection horizon, and such convergence has been consistently reflected in underlying inflation dynamics," the bank said.

Lagarde is set to make her first post-decision press conference at 8.30 am ET.

Data from Eurostat showed that Eurozone industrial production decreased for the second straight month, largely driven by weak capital goods output in October.

Industrial output dropped 0.5 percent in October from September, when production was down 0.1 percent. This was the second straight decline and the biggest fall since June.

The euro rose against its major counterparts in the previous session, except the pound.

The euro held steady against the greenback, after having retreated to 1.1125 at 4:45 am ET. This came after a high of 1.1144 hit at 9:45 pm ET. The pair had closed yesterday's deals at 1.1129.

The euro reversed from an early 5-week high of 121.04 versus yen, pulling back to 120.87. The currency is likely to face support around the 118.00 region, if it falls again.

Data from the Cabinet Office showed that Japan core machine orders fell a seasonally adjusted 6.0 percent on month in October - coming in at 798.8 billion yen.

That missed forecasts for an increase of 0.7 percent following the 2.9 percent decline in September.

After an early uptick to a 3-day high of 1.0948 against the franc, the euro retreated to 1.0924 and held steady thereafter. At yesterday's close, the pair was valued at 1.0937.

Switzerland's central bank maintained its negative interest rates and expressed willingness to intervene in the currency market as required.

The Swiss National Bank retained its policy rate and interest on sight deposits at the SNB at -0.75 percent. The decision came in line with expectations.

The euro appreciated to a 6-day high of 0.8463 against the pound, from an early low of 0.8420, and held steady thereafter. The pair was worth 0.8434 at Wednesday's close.

Survey data from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed that UK house prices declined at the fastest pace since April as uncertainties from Brexit and general election weighed on the property market.

The house price balance fell to -12 in November from -5 in October.

Looking ahead, Canada new housing price index for October, U.S. producer price index for November and weekly jobless claims for the week ended December 7 are due in the New York session.

Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz will give a speech about Canada's economic outlook for 2020 at the Empire Club of Canada in Toronto at 12:30 pm ET.