Euro weakens as pound sees gains

The euro was weaker and the pound saw gains Thursday after the European Central Bank and the Bank of England both held interest rates steady for another month at 4.25 percent and 5 percent respectively.

The euro was hurt by comments from the ECB’s president calling Eurozone economic activity “weak”, as well as by a cut in ECB projections for economic growth in the region this year and next and by a drop in German factory orders in July.

In late morning trade in New York, the euro traded at $1.4354 to the US dollar while it took ¥1.5423 to buy a euro.

The pound saw gains versus both the dollar and the euro, although gains were limited by a report from HBOS (LSE: HBOS) showing that UK house prices were down by 10.9 percent in August, while the greenback was hurt by a private report showing that there were 33,000 less jobs in the US in August.

The pound traded at 81.17p to the euro at late morning in New York while at the same time it took $1.7683 to buy a pound.

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