Euro, bond yields slip after ECB sticks to stimulus pledge

LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) - The euro and government bond yields across the bloc slipped on Thursday after the European Central Bank left its ultra-easy monetary policy stance unchanged, keeping rates at record lows and even leaving the door open to further easing if needed.

The euro hit a two-day low of $1.1482 after the decision, down from $1.1498 beforehand, leaving it down 0.3 percent on the day.

The yield on Germany's 10-year government bond , the benchmark for the region, fell over 2 basis points after the statement was released and was lower on the day at 0.53 percent. Low-rated Italian and Spanish 10-year government bond yields were down 4-5 bps on the day.

On stock markets, the pan-European STOXX 600 index extended gained slightly and was last up 0.2 percent, while euro zone banks gave back their earlier gains to trade flat, before edging back up to 0.1 percent higher on the day. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly, Abhinav Ramnarayan, Kit Rees and Helen Reid; Editing by Nigel Stephenson)