NEW YORK —  The dollar jumped against the euro Thursday after the head of the European Central Bank confirmed he did not rule out further interest rate cuts, but said there were not yet any plans to create new money as Britain has started doing.

The 16-nation euro fell to $1.2770 in New York trading from $1.2803 it bought late Wednesday, while the British pound slid to $1.3714 from $1.3848.

The ECB cut interest rates by a half point a week ago to 1.5 percent, a 10-year low in the 16-country euro-zone. The Bank of England also reduced rates March 5, to a historic 0.5 percent, and announced its plan for quantitative easing, an effort to boost bank lending by increasing the amount of money in the system.

The BoE said it will inject 75 billion pounds ($106 billion) into the banking system.

Instead of making new bank notes, the bank will buy assets, such as government securities and corporate bonds, over three months and pay for them by crediting banks' reserve accounts _ effectively creating new money.

Quantitative easing can also prompt inflation, which devalues a currency. It is the first time it's been used in modern Britain, underscoring the extent of the downturn engulfing the country. The Fed and the Bank of Japan have already announced such untraditional policies.

Meanwhile, the Swiss National Bank cut its key interest rate by a quarter point to a record low 0.25 percent on Thursday. It is the fifth rate cut by the Swiss bank since October.

Lower interest rates can weaken a currency as investors move funds to where they earn better returns elsewhere.

On Thursday, the dollar surged to 1.1902 Swiss francs from 1.1545 francs.

In other late trading, the dollar inched up to 97.43 Japanese yen from 97.27 yen, and rose to 1.2911 Canadian dollars from 1.2885 Canadian dollars.

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