Mubasher: The European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday decided to retain its key interest rates at their current ultra-low levels which policymakers expected to remain at least through the first half of next year.

The ECB’s interest rate on its main refinancing operations will stay at 0.00% while the interest rate on its marginal lending facility will be held at 0.25%, with -0.40% interest on deposit facility, the ECB said in its statement.

By 11:52 am GMT, the EUR/USD pair rose by 0.24% to $1.1248.