The European Central Bank left its key interest rates unchanged as expected on Thursday and also maintained its asset buying program. There had been some hopes that the ECB would expand quantitative easing.

The ECB kept its rate on bank overnight deposits at minus 0.40 percent. It also maintained its 80 billion euro per month asset purchase program until the end of March 2017.

The central bank said it expects to keep its key interest rates at current or lower levels for an extended period of time. That's as inflation is still barely above zero and is expected to remain below the ECB's two-percent target for years to come.