By
The National bank said it intervened in the foreign exchange market, selling a net 17.8 billion crowns for other currencies, to steady the crown in December. The bank intervenes in the forex market, buying or selling crowns, to strengthen or weaken the Danish currency within its band to the euro. If such intervention fails to have the desired effect, the bank changes interest rates. European Union member but eurozone outsider Denmark's policy of holding the crown steady against the euro means that the central bank shifts interest rates for the sole purpose of keeping the crown around its central parity of 7.46038 per euro.