The Swiss franc firmed against the dollar in early trading on Wednesday as the greenback gave up some of its gains following Tuesday's smaller-than-expected US trade deficit for July.
The shortfall between US exports and imports was $57.9 billion in July, compared with a revised $59.5 billion in June and economists' forecasts of a $59.8 billion gap.
The report helped the dollar, pushing it towards 2-week highs against the franc, as investors saw the US Federal Reserve pushing ahead with its 14-month stretch of interest rate rises on September 20, despite Hurricane Katrina's damage.
But the greenback retreated from these highs on Wednesday, trading at 1.2582/85 Swiss francs, down from 1.2608/11 francs in late trading in Europe on Tuesday.
The euro stood at 1.5465/67 francs from 1.5477/82 francs on Tuesday.