The Swiss franc was little changed against the dollar in early trade on Thursday after Swiss employment data confirmed the country's economic recovery and ahead of an expected rise in US interest rates next week.
The Swiss unemployment rate held steady at a non-seasonally adjusted 3.7 percent in November, as expected the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said on Wednesday.The rate was down versus 3.9 percent one year ago.
The US Federal Open Market Committee will meet next Tuesday and is widely expected to continue to tighten its monetary policy and raise rates by 0.25 percentage points.
But analysts said the interest rate increase could be followed by only one or two more rises in rates in the Fed's monetary policy tightening cycle and that the central bank may hint at this by altering key language in the statement it releases after the policy meeting.
Such a development would slow the dollar's year-long rally.
On Thursday, the greenback firmed to 1.3138/41 Swiss francs, compared to levels around 1.3126/31 francs late on Wednesday. The euro was trading at 1.5397/03 francs from 1.5390/95 francs on Wednesday.