By: Barbara Zigah

As analysts had previously suggested, the effects of the intervention efforts by the Swiss National Bank were short-lived, with panicking investors sending the safe haven Swiss Franc to fresh highs again versus the Euro and the U.S. Dollar. This comes as equity markets worldwide have been and still are taking huge hits, a result of panic selling on renewed fears of waning global growth.

Investor sentiment is strongly risk-averse, and investors typically flock first to the Swiss Franc. Earlier comments by the head of the Swiss National Bank, however, pulled some of the momentum away from the Swiss Franc, with investors worrying that another intervention could be in the offing. The Japanese Yen had also moved higher as investors moved to the safe haven currencies but, again, fears that the Bank of Japan could stage another intervention have limited the Yen’s gains.

As reported at 3:19 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the Euro was trading against the Swiss Franc at 1.0812 Swiss Francs, a rise of 0.4% and off the intraday low of 1.0731 Swiss Francs. The U.S. Dollar was recently trading lower against the Swiss Franc at .7653 Swiss Francs. The U.S. Dollar had slipped 0.5% against the Japanese Yen from Thursday’s late trade in New York of 78.48 Yen; following the Bank of Japan intervention, the pair had traded at around 80.25 Japanese Yen.