Denmark's central bank on Thursday trimmed its key lending rate by 0.05 percentage points to 1.20 percent.

The central bank said it also cut its interest on certificates of deposit by 0.05 percentage points to 0.95 percent. However, it maintained its discount rate at 1.00 percent.

The rate changes come into effect Friday.

"The interest rate reduction is a consequence of purchases of foreign exchange in the market," Nationalbanken said.

"The money market rates in euro are very low and the spread to the equivalent Danish rates tends to strengthen the Danish krone."

Denmark is a member of the 27-nation European Union but has stayed outside the bloc's 16-member euro zone.

It typically follows European Central Bank changes as part of a policy of trying to keep Denmark's currency, the krone, stable against the euro. It will tweak its key lending rate when foreign currency markets push the krone up or down against the euro so as to keep the exchange rate steady.