The Swiss franc rose against the euro and the dollar on Thursday as traders shunned riskier investments due to worries about slowing European economic growth. "The sell-out of the euro continues. The euro pessimism has been a factor for some weeks now," said Ronald Plasser, analyst at Austrian RZB, adding that risk aversion was also boosting the Swissie versus the dollar.
On Wednesday, the European Commission said euro zone economic growth will halve in 2008 from 2007 and inflation will be much higher because of financial turmoil, soaring commodity prices and housing market shocks. The franc was 0.3 percent higher against the euro compared to the New York close, trading at 1.5863 per euro. Against the dollar, the franc was up 0.1 percent at 1.1369 per dollar.