The launch of euro notes and coins on January 01, 2002 went off with only minor glitches and was hailed as a success by the head of the European Central Bank, Wim Duisenberg. The lack of any major crisis surrounding the launch combined with heightened public interest helped to push the value of the euro against the dollar to over $0.90 on Thursday, but the currency slipped back to $0.8974 by 0930 GMT.

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