The U.S. Dollar continued to rally against the Turkish lira Thursday as the exchange parity reached 3.83, the highest in nine months, after the European Central Bank's decision to prolong its bond purchases well into 2018 created more demand for the dollar in the global market.

The exchange rate stood at 3.8398 after Wednesday's close and was later back to 3.82 in the morning hours as dollar gained 1.44 percent.

Financial analysts said the dollar's rally against the lira was part of the U.S. currency's gains after the European Central Bank extended its bond purchases and reduced the chances that it would hike interest rates in 2018, bringing the euro down to three-month lows.

Meanwhile, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekçi said the current pevel does not reflect the real exchange rate and will go back to normal at the beginning of next week.

The euro was down 0.15 percent at $1.1633 after touching $1.1624, its lowest level since July 26. It was down 1.3 percent for the week.

The ECB prolonged its bond buying program by nine months to September 2018, and left the door open to keep buying after that. It said it would begin paring its monthly purchases by half to 30 billion euros ($34.90 billion) starting in January.