London, December 3

The Financial Times today caused a flurry on currency markets after erroneously tweeting that the European Central Bank (ECB) was to leave interest rates unchanged, minutes before the ECB actually cut a key rate.

The British newspaper sent out a tweet from Twitter account @FTMarkets at 1238 GMT reading, “ECB leaves rates unchanged in shock decision.”

The alert sent euro jumping to $1.06, compared with $1.05 beforehand.

The message linked to a full story, in which the newspaper wrote: “The European Central Bank has left interest rates unchanged, dashing expectations of a cut to its deposit rate.”

However, ECB announced less than 10 minutes later that it would cut deposit rate, one of its key rates, to minus 0.3 per cent. The announcement sent the currency tumbling, although it has since rebounded to over $1.08 on disappointment over stimulus measures.

FT has since deleted the old post and apologised for the error, adding the story was published in error. A later @FTMarkets tweet confirmed ‘ECB cuts interest rate to new historic low’.