The Swiss franc clung to near-eight year highs against the dollar in early Friday trading as concerns over the strength of the US economy and its gaping current account deficit weighed on the greenback. Traders said that with the US presidential elections now out of the way, the market's focus had returned to economic fundamentals. That was likely to keep the pressure on the dollar, unless there was a strong uptick in crucial US October jobs data, due at 1330 GMT on Friday.
The dollar last traded at 1.1865/69 francs, compared to levels around 1.1850/55 francs late on Thursday and near an eight-year low of 1.1835 francs. The euro changed hands at 1.5281/88 francs against 1.5270/75 francs.
On the domestic front, consumer price data released on Thursday underlined that inflation is unlikely to derail the Swiss economy's recovery, even though higher oil prices may push the consumer price index up temporarily.
Consumer prices are set to rise by less than one percent this year, according to the Swiss Federal Statistics Office. But it cautioned that inflation could spike at the end of the year after record-high oil prices already helped to push October's inflation rate to 1.3 percent, at the upper end of forecasts.
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