The euro rebounded and bond yields in the eurozone bounced off record lowsyesterday, after the European Central Bank put off until next year a decision about whether to increase economic stimulus, leaving investors uncertain.

The ECB’s Governing Council was unanimous in its willingness to launch measures such as a government bond buying programme with new money if necessary to help revive the eurozone economy.

Markets had hoped for clearer details on if and when the ECB would print money to buy government bonds.

That step is opposed by Germany, the eurozone’s biggest economy.

Bond yields on eurozone government debt bounced further off record lows and the euro rebounded from a more than two-year low against the dollar after ECB President Mario Draghi failed to unveil plans for more stimulus.

Stocks in the eurozone fell more than one per cent and MSCI’s measure of global equity performance fell. Wall Street also traded lower, but only slightly.

“Investors were hoping for more substance on sovereign bond purchases, but Draghi hasn’t given investors anything that is really new,” said John Smith, senior fund manager at Brown Shipley in Manchester, England.

The euro gained 0.61 per cent against the dollar to $1.2385, after slipping to a more than two-year trough of $1.2284. The dollar last traded at 119.79 yen, up 0.01 per cent on the day.

German 10-year yields, the benchmark for eurozone borrowing costs, rose 3 basis points to 0.77 per cent, retreating further from record lows of 0.698 per cent on Monday.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury was last up 3/32 to yield 2.2729 per cent.

MSCI’s all-country world index, a measure of stock performance in 45 countries, fell 0.17 per cent to 424.32.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed down 1.4 per cent to a provisional 1,380.77 points, its sharpest one-day drop in seven weeks.

Wall Street was mixed, trading near break-even.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 5.01 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 17,907.61.

The S&P 500 slid 1.14 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 2,073.19 and the Nasdaq Composite is added 3.98 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 4,778.45.

Brent crude oil fell below $69 a barrel after Saudi Arabia announced deep cuts in selling prices for Asian and US buyers, a week after refusing to support Opec output cuts.

Brent was down 50 cents at $69.42 a barrel.

US crude was down 82 cents to $66.56 a barrel, having fallen to 66.09 in early New York trade.