The Danish central bank raised its key interest rate by one-quarter percentage point to 4.6 percent on Thursday, hours after similar moves by the European Central Bank and Sweden's central bank.

"The interest rate increase is a consequence of the European Central Bank increasing the minimum bid rate on the main refinancing operations by 0.25 (percentage points) to 4.25 percent," a bank statement said.

Denmark is a member of the European Union, but has stayed outside the 15-nation euro zone. It routinely follows European Central Bank changes, as part of a policy of trying to keep Denmark's currency, the krone, stable against the euro.

Higher interest rates are seen as supporting a country's currency by attracting investors with better yields.

The central bank also said it was increasing interest paid to banks on their deposits by 0.25 percentage points to 4.25 percent. The rate changes go into force on Friday.

Earlier Thursday, neighboring Sweden announced that it was hiking key rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.5 percent and the further increases were to be expected.

The Danish central bank, Danmarks Nationalbank, increased rates in May, by 0.10 percentage points to 4.35 percent.

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