Early trade in New York: dollar falls; Swiss franc hits two-year high versus euro

The dollar fell for a second straight session on Monday in quiet trading as investors took more profits on earlier steep gains and as appetite for risk increased, with oil prices and many equities markets rising around the world. In other trading, the Swiss franc touched a two-year high versus the euro, on the verge of reaching the Swiss central bank's 1.20 franc ceiling that would trigger intervention.
Higher-yielding currencies generally viewed as risky assets were stronger on the day such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars, sterling, and emerging market units such as the Turkish lira and the South Africa rand. In mid-morning trading in New York, the dollar was down 0.2 percent against a basket of currencies, reflecting a 0.2 percent weakening against the yen to 114.39 yen, and a roughly 0.2 percent decline versus the euro, which was last at $1.2472. In other currencies, the Australian dollar was up 0.2 percent at US $0.8660, while the New Zealand dollar rose 0.6 percent to US $0.7791. The euro was flat against the Swiss franc at 1.2030.