Citing an EU source familiar with the matter, Reuters reported on Thursday that European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde told the eurozone finance minister that fragmentation risk was a serious threat to the price stability mandate.

"Doubting our commitment would be a serious mistake," Lagarde reportedly added. "The goal of anti-fragmentation tool is not to close spreads, but to normalise spreads."

Market reaction

These comments were largely ignored by market participants and the EUR/USD pair was last seen rising 1.25% on the day at 1.0570.