Swiss franc flat against euro

17 May, 2006

The Swiss franc traded within sight of multi-months highs against the euro on Tuesday, with foreign exchange markets widely expecting the franc to strengthen further against the single currency.
"(The euro) is finally breaking down although it has taken a lot of patience, but we still target a move towards 1.53 (franc per euro) and potentially down to the low 1.50's in the weeks/months ahead," J.P. Morgan strategists said in a note.
The franc traded at 1.5498 per euro, unchanged on the day and not far from its strongest level since late January touched on Monday at 1.5462 per euro.
The Swiss National Bank last month indicated the franc stood too low against the euro given economic fundamentals, saying it might have to speed up its tightening cycle if the franc became weaker. The Swissie has gained 1.8 percent against the euro since those comments.
The franc traded at 1.2096 per dollar, up 0.2 percent on the day, but well below the previous session's one-year high at 1.1918 per dollar, amidst a broad-based dollar bounce.
Swiss data will provide little direction this week, with only the combined producer and import prices index for April due to be released on Friday. Analysts expect the annual price increase to inch down to 1.5 percent from 1.6 percent in March.

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