London

THE euro hit a one-month low against the British pound on Thursday after the European Central Bank kept policy unchanged as expected, with the focus turning to whether ECB president Mario Draghi will try to talk down the currency.

Speculation on how far the ECB could go towards signalling an extension or expansion of its quantitative easing has dominated currency trading this week, but there was little conviction that it would spur a strong move in the euro. The euro was down 0.2 per cent at US$1.1320 and 0.5 per cent lower against the pound at 73.15 pence. The common currency was also down 0.3 per cent against the yen at 135.51 yen.