ZURICH: The Swiss franc fell against the dollar on Wednesday, but remained close to a three-week high reached the previous session as jitters over escalating tensions in Syria blighted equities and spurred buying of the safe haven franc.
Western powers have told the Syrian opposition to expect a strike against President Bashar al-Assad's forces within days, according to sources who attended a meeting between envoys and the Syrian National Coalition in Istanbul.
That news trumped sunnier economic reports such as an improved business sentiment survey in Germany that would have ordinarily spurred risk appetite as investors sought sanctuary in US Treasuries, the franc and the yen, analysts said, and could also keep a floor under the dollar.
"Further deterioration in risk sentiment today could prompt investor comparison of relative current account stress - in terms of both funding and depth of local asset liquidity," said Credit Agricole analysts in a note.
"Historically during periods of market upheaval, such comparisons have resulted in investor flight from higher risk assets to USD, JPY, CHF and XAU."
The franc fell 0.1 percent against the dollar compared to the New York close, to trade at 0.9181 per dollar by 0633 GMT.
The franc was little changed against the euro at 1.2286.
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