The Swiss franc fell against the dollar on Monday as the greenback benefited from continuing investor skittishness. "Equity markets are trending lower as there is still some risk aversion out there, and this tends to benefit the dollar," said Marcus Hettinger, a forex analyst at Credit Suisse.
The franc was trading at 1.1649 per dollar compared to Friday's New York close of 1.1607 per dollar and it relatively flat against the euro at 1.4845 per euro versus New York's close of 1.4850. "Traders are feeling more relaxed and neutral about the franc-euro level after (SNB) Chairman Jean-Pierre] Roth's comments on Friday that he was 'comfortable' with the current level of the franc," said Hettinger.
The analyst added that traders would probably focus on US data from Institute for Supply Management (ISM) due out on Monday. "This afternoon could see a stabilisation or improvement in the ISM purchasing index. If it does improve, it is likely to be positive for risky assets, which could lead to dollar weakness against the franc," he said.