The Swiss franc remained under pressure against the euro on Thursday, slipping closer to recent 8-1/2 year lows, as the Swiss National Bank's warnings against risks of a weak franc increasingly fail to support the currency.
Market attention now moves to the KOF growth indicator due on Friday for clues on the direction of the Swiss economy. By 0636 GMT, the franc was slightly lower against the euro at 1.6435 per euro, moving towards the 8-1/2 year low at 1.6467. Against the dollar, the franc was near flat at 1.2038 per dollar.
Analysts said that the SNB's warnings increasingly failed to impress markets. "Financial markets, too, have a tendency to learn to live with repeated warnings," UBS analysts Reto Huenerwadel said. "This can be best highlighted by the price action on forex markets following the latest SNB comments. The lines weighed on euro-franc rate for less than 24 hours," he said in a note.