The euro continued its early slide against its major rivals on Thursday, after the European Central Bank President Mario Draghi launched the quantitative easing program to address the threats of prolonged period of low inflation prevailing in the bloc.

Under the expanded programme, the combined monthly purchases of public and private sector securities would be worth €60 billion. The programme, which starts in March, will be carried out until the end of September 2016.

Draghi kept the program open-ended, saying it will be pursued until they see a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation which is consistent with their aim of achieving inflation rates below, but close to, 2 percent over the medium term.

"In March, the Eurosystem will start to purchase euro-denominated investment-grade securities issued by euro area governments and agencies and European institutions in the secondary market. The purchases of securities issued by euro area governments and agencies will be based on the Eurosystem NCBs' shares in the ECB's capital key," he told.

"The prevailing degree of monetary accommodation was insufficient to adequately address heightened risks of too prolonged a period of low inflation," the ECB chief told in press conference at Frankfurt. "Thus, the adoption of further balance sheet measures has become warranted to achieve our price stability objective, given that the key ECB interest rates have reached their lower bound," he added.

The Governing Council held the refinancing rate at a record low of 0.05 percent and deposit rate at -0.20 percent, following the meeting. The decision was in line with economists' expectations.

Last week, the Swiss National Bank abandoned its three-year-old cap on the franc against the euro due the expected easing by the European Central Bank. Such a move would increase the demand for the safe-haven franc and would make hard for the SNB to defend its self-imposed cap.

The euro has been trading in a negative territory in January, amid uncertainty regarding the consequences of the Greek elections on January 25, speculation that the ECB would launch sovereign bond purchase at the earliest and on plunging oil prices that raises the prospect of outright deflation.

The euro hit a 6-day low of 0.7599 against the Sterling, from Wednesday's closing quote of 0.7665. The next possible downside target for the euro lies around the 0.75 region.

U.K. budget deficit increased in December from last year, data from the Office for National Statistics showed.

Public sector net borrowing excluding public sector banks totaled GBP 13.1 billion, an increase of GBP 2.9 billion or 27.8 percent from last year.

Moving away from an early high of 1.1649 against the U.S. dollar, the euro slipped to a 6-day low of 1.1510. Continuation of the euro's downtrend may lead it to a support around the 1.135 mark.

The euro weakened to 0.9873 against the Swiss franc and 135.83 against the Japanese yen, off early high of 1.0031 and a 2-day high of 137.30, respectively. Further weakness may take the euro to support levels of around 0.965 against the franc and 132.00 against the yen.

The euro edged down to 1.4176 against the aussie, 1.5216 against the NZ dollar and 1.4202 against the Canadian dollar, retreating from early 1-week high of 1.4407, new 2-week high of 1.5436 and a 5-week high of 1.4379, respectively. Next support levels for the euro are likely seen around 1.41 against the aussie, 1.50 against the kiwi and 1.40 against the loonie.

At 10:00 am ET, Eurozone flash consumer sentiment index for January is to be released.

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