The Swiss franc rose to a new record high against the euro on Monday on concerns about the debt crisis in the single currency zone. The euro slipped across the board after Fitch Ratings cut Greece's debt ratings by three notches on Friday, pushing the country deeper into junk, while rival Standard & Poor's cut its outlook for Italy to "negative" from "stable" on Saturday.
The euro breached its December 31 low against the franc of around 1.24 in Asian trade, triggering stop-loss selling, taking out an option barrier at 1.2350 francs to hit a record low of 1.2345 francs on trading platform EBS. The single currency then recovered somewhat and the franc was trading at 1.2395 per euro at 0646 GMT. The franc was softer against the dollar at 0.8807 per dollar.