The euro jumped against the dollar on Thursday after the European Central Bank said it could revisit its communication stance in early 2018, boosting expectations that policymakers are preparing to reduce their vast monetary stimulus programme. With the euro zone seeing its best growth in a decade, the ECB should gradually shift its stance to avoid a more disruptive move later and look at a broader revision of its policy guidance to reduce the focus on bond purchases and raise the emphasis on interest rates, accounts of the ECB's December meeting showed.

"It's certainly more of a hawkish tilt in the minutes," said Karl Schamotta, director of global product and market strategy at Cambridge Global Payments in Toronto. "The expectation that the ECB is moving toward removal of stimulus is helping lift interest rate yields further. This has been long expected but there was more formality in the minutes around how the bank will manage the forward guidance process as they exit unconventional policy," Schamotta said.

The euro was up 0.9 percent to $1.2053, on pace for its biggest single-day percentage gain against the greenback in about two months. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six rival currencies, was down 0.57 percent at 91.808, after falling to a nearly one-week low 91.808. The greenback extended losses after data showed US producer prices fell for the first time in nearly 1-1/2 years in December amid declining costs for services.

Bitcoin was 4.8 percent lower at $14,168.95 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange after South Korea's government said it plans to ban cryptocurrency trading.

Copyright Reuters, 2018