Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was higher against the Swiss franc on Thursday, after Japanese authorities followed Switzerland’s intervention in currency markets, easing policy and selling yen to prevent a further appreciation of the currency.
USD/CHF hit 0.7800 during European morning trade, the pair’s highest since Tuesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7790, advancing 1.15%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7606, Wednesday’s low and the pair’s all-time low and resistance at 0.7952, Monday’s high.
Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda confirmed earlier that the country intervened to curb the yen’s gains for the first time since March, amid concerns that the yen’s appreciation would hinder the largely export-based economy’s recovery from a downturn sparked by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
In addition, the Bank of Japan announced additional monetary easing in order to support the Finance Ministry’s intervention to weaken the yen.
The Japanese intervention came one day after the Swiss National Bank cut its key lending rate to a narrower range, saying the currency was “massively overvalued.”
The SNB also said it would “significantly” increase the supply of liquidity to the Swiss franc money market over the coming days to help counter the currency’s appreciation.
The Swissie was also higher against the euro, with EUR/CHF rising 0.42% to hit 1.1079.
Later Thursday, both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank were to announce their benchmark interest rates, while the U.S. was to publish government data on initial jobless claims.
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