The European single currency extended gains in early Thursday trading as investors increase bets that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will flag the end of the Bank's €2.3 trillion quantitative easing program later today in Frankfurt.

The Bank will announce its regular rate decision at 07:45 eastern time, with analysts expecting no changes to its three key interest benchmarks, including the -0.4% charge it applies to its overnight deposit facility. The ECB's main lending rate, known as the refinancing rate, has held at a record-low 0% since March 2016.

The Bank will also publish fresh growth an inflation forecasts for the next two years alongside its official policy statement at 08:30 eastern, although the larger focus for markets and investors will be the fate of the Bank's controversial QE program and the pace of its €60 billion in monthly asset purchases, which has a soft expiry date of December 2017 and the option of continuing beyond that date if Eurozone inflation is not showing sustained signs of accelerating closer to the Bank's "just below 2% target".

Watch More with TheStreet:

• Hurricane Irma Damage Storms Onto Social Media
• Puerto Rico Braces for Hurricane Irma's Category 5 Fury
• 5 Twitter Accounts To Follow During Hurricane Irma
• 5 of the Most Devastating Storms in Recent U.S. History