By: Barbara Zigah

The Swiss Franc suffered heavy losses against the U.S. Dollar and the common currency Euro earlier during the Asian trading session, a repercussion of the Swiss National Bank’s efforts to suppress the Swiss currency’s rise. As reported at 12:55 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the Euro slipped 0.6% against the Swissie, to trade at 1.0800; in the earlier part of the week, the EUR/CHF pair had hit a record trough of 1.0075 Swiss Francs on the EBS trading platform, and is still 1.4% lower for the week. The U.S. Dollar was also reported as 0.1% lower against the Swiss currency, trading at 0.7611, well off the Tuesday low, a new record of 0.70676 Swiss Francs. Most recently, the USD/CHF pair was lower at 0.7603, while the EUR/CHF pair was down 1.0772.

The volatility of the Swiss Franc is in large part due to investors’ flight to safe haven assets in the wake of global turmoil; to some extent, however, volatility is a factor of the Swiss National Bank’s ongoing efforts to stem the rise of the Swiss currency, appreciation which has damaged the Swiss economy to an extent not welcome by the government. The SNB has threatened to continue its intervention efforts as and when warranted, even, to some extent, pegging the Swiss currency to the Euro.