Börse Express - Foreign exchange: The euro rate remains stable above 1.08 US dollars

NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The euro extended gains against the US dollar in late US FX trading on Thursday. Most recently, the common currency was paid for at $1.0844. The euro was boosted by the prospect of interest rates rising less sharply in the USA. It rose above $1.08 for the first time in nine months to its highest level since April last year. The European Central Bank (ECB) had previously set the reference rate at 1.0772 (Wednesday: 1.0747) dollars. The dollar had thus cost 0.9283 (0.9305) euros.

New inflation data from the US showed that inflation is still on the decline. The inflation rate fell to 6.5 percent in December for the sixth straight month. This gives the US Federal Reserve room to take its fight against inflation a little more calmly. “The topic of inflation is becoming less explosive and the Fed can continue to shift down a gear,” commented chief economist Thomas Gitzel from VP Bank on the US price data.

Philadelphia regional Fed Chairman Patrick Harker called for smaller rate hikes of 0.25 percentage points immediately after the price data was released. Last year, the Fed fought against the high inflation with strong interest rate increases of 0.75 points and most recently of 0.50 points in December. In the past few trading days, speculation that interest rates would rise less sharply had already put the American currency under pressure, while the euro was able to benefit in return