The European Central Bank – led by Mario Draghi (pictured) – yesterday cut its headline interest rate by ten basis points to 0.05% and said it will begin a long-awaited asset purchase programme in the coming months. The deposit rate has also been reduced by ten basis points to -0.2%.

The move to buy specific debt – namely mortgage backed securities – caught some unawares, and sent the euro tumbling yesterday, although it boosted European markets which finished sharply higher.

Overnight however, investors were less moved, with US markets closing marginally lower and shares in Asia also pegged back.

Both the Dow and the S&P 500 closed a few points lower, while in Asia the Topix was down 0.3%, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng index was down 0.2%.

Looking to currencies, the euro’s slump yesterday continued into the night, hitting its lowest rate against the dollar since July 2013 after shedding 1.7% to $1.292. It has steadily fallen since the start of June when the ECB first announced it was cutting deposit rates below zero, shedding around 5% of its value.

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Two-year government bond yields from countries such as Germany and France also turned negative while 10-year yields in Italy and Ireland dropped to an all-time low.