Swiss franc up on renewed euro zone debt worries

ZURICH: The Swiss franc rose against the euro and the dollar on Monday amid renewed safe-haven demand ahead of a potentially risky week for the euro zone debt crisis.

News that Greece and its international lenders are at odds over whether it has met conditions for a new aid tranche weighed on the euro as did anticipation about a German constitutional court ruling over euro zone bailouts on Wednesday.

"The week is most definitely starting in risk off mood," said Credit Agricole analyst Mitul Kotecha. "There is plenty of event risk over coming days, with a heavy slate central bank meetings."

When the European Central Bank meets on Thursday, it is expected to say a pause is needed in post-crisis tightening.

"While the last projections were not overly optimistic, we nevertheless expect a downward revision to the growth and inflation forecasts," Marcel Thieliant of Credit Suisse said in a client note.

The franc rose 0.9 percent against the euro to trade at 1.1095 by 0638 GMT compared to the New York close. The franc rose 0.5 percent against the dollar to trade at 0.784.

The head of the leading Swiss business lobby reiterated on Sunday his call for the Swiss National Bank to set a temporary exchange rate target to cap the rise of the franc, saying Swiss firms need a euro rate above 1.20 francs to survive.

To try to counter a jump in the safe-haven franc to record highs in recent weeks, the SNB has slashed interest rates to zero and is trying to make holding francs less attractive by rapidly expanding banks' sight deposits.

Those measures helped the euro strengthen towards 1.20 francs, but it slid again last week, eyeing 1.10 francs amid renewed concerns about the euro zone debt crisis and the health of the global economy, putting more pressure on the SNB to act.

Copyright Reuters, 2010