© Reuters. The euro exceeds $1.10, but falls again after Lagarde’s speech
Frankfurt (Germany), Feb 2 (.).- The euro rose this Thursday to 1.10 dollars, the highest for ten months, but it depreciated below 1.09 dollars after the president of the European Central Bank ( ECB), Christine Lagarde, will show caution regarding the rise in interest rates in March.
The euro was trading around 4:00 p.m. GMT at $1.0934, compared with $1.0912 in the final hours of European currency market trading the previous day.
The ECB set the reference exchange rate for the euro at $1.0988.
The ECB decided this Thursday to raise its interest rates by half a percentage point, to 3%, the fifth consecutive rise, and plans to increase them by 50 basis points more at its March meeting.
Lagarde said the intention to raise interest rates again in March by half a percentage point “is not an irrevocable commitment” and hinted at more hikes after March.
The ECB president explained that the Governing Council made the decision to increase the price of money today and the intention to do so again at the same rate in March by “a very broad consensus”.
The discussions were good and the ECB wants to emphasize that it maintains the cycle of interest rate increases.
When asked if after March they will have concluded with the rises in interest rates and these will have reached their maximum in this upward cycle, Lagarde replied that they had not.
The single currency was exchanged in a fluctuation band between 1.0887 and 1.1026 dollars.
