By: Barbara Zigah
For the second consecutive day, the Swiss Franc struck a new record high against the U.S. Dollar as investors flock to the safe haven currency in the face of escalating violence in Libya. As reported at 1:46 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the Swiss Franc traded against the U.S. Dollar at 0.9229 Swiss Francs, a new record high, on the EBS trading platform.
A weak U.S. Dollar is also benefitting the common currency Euro, which edged close to key resistance levels in Asian trading, again gaining support from statements made by ECB officials regarding their inflation-fighting efforts. As reported, the Euro traded higher at $1.3828, a gain of .2%, and approaching resistance which is pegged at $1.3862; beyond that, traders expect the Euro to hit resistance at $1.3947.
Rising oil prices are also putting pressure on the greenback, with analysts acknowledging that they would have a larger impact on the recovery of the U.S. economy, which relies heavily on consumer spending. The price of NYMEX-traded crude oil has risen in the past few days to $100 a barrel, and analysts see that these continued rises will be negative for the recovery, in general.