LONDON (Reuters) - The euro jumped to a 9-day high on Thursday as the European Central Bank broadly stuck to its outlook for growth and inflation while outlining concerns about the single currency's strength.
ECB President Mario Draghi pointed to a broadly unchanged outlook for the euro zone but said several times that the euro's strength was a risk to that outlook.
The euro initially surged after Draghi said the bank was keeping its growth and inflation forecasts broadly unchanged.
It fell back almost immediately by just under a full cent from those highs when he added that recent volatility in the exchange rate was a source of uncertainty and had contributed to a trimming of some of the bank's inflation forecasts.
By 1254 GMT, just over 20 minutes after the start of the bank's post-meeting news conference, the euro was trading 1.1 percent higher on the day at $1.2046.
That pushed the dollar index to its weakest since January 2015. (DXY)
Southern Europe led a fall in euro zone bond yields after Draghi suggested details on tapering would come in October. Portugal's 10-year bond yield was down 8 basis points at a two-week low of 2.78 percent
(This version of the story was refiled to add dropped words in second paragraph)