Swiss franc near peak in Asia

The Swiss franc hit record highs and the Australian dollar fell on Wednesday as investors scrambled for a safe haven on renewed tensions in the eurozone debt market and worries about a global slowdown. The yen held steady against the US dollar, with investors wary of intervention to weaken the yen after recent jawboning from Japanese authorities.
Even Moody's affirmation of the United States' prized triple-A credit rating failed to calm jittery markets. Moody's announcement followed congressional approval of a deficit-cutting plan. Instead, markets focused on Tuesday's announcement of more weak US data, following a batch of dour manufacturing surveys on Monday. Latest figures showed US consumer spending dropped in June for the first time in nearly two years and incomes barely rose. Adding to market jitters was a sell-off in peripheral eurozone bonds, which drove Italian bond yields to a 14-year high on Tuesday.
The souring mood saw investors make a beeline for safe-haven assets including the Swiss franc and gold, which also hit a record high. "Given what we're seeing at the moment is safe haven demand, further Swiss franc strength is conceivable," said Gareth Berry, associate director of G10 FX strategy for UBS in Singapore. Earlier on Wednesday, the euro hit a record low of 1.0797 versus the Swiss franc on trading platform EBS. The euro later trimmed its losses and was last up 0.5 percent from late US trading on Tuesday at 1.0889 francs.
The dollar also trimmed losses against the Swiss franc after hitting a record low of 0.7610 francs earlier on Wednesday. The dollar last stood at 0.7659 versus the Swiss franc, up 0.5 percent on the day. The dollar took a breather against the yen in the wake of its recent drop close to a record low.
The dollar held steady against the yen at 77.16 yen. The dollar had hit a four-month low of 76.29 yen earlier this week, right near a record low of 76.25 yen in March, stirring jitters that Japanese authorities may intervene to curb the yen's rise. The euro edged up 0.1 percent against the dollar to $1.4214. The Australian dollar fell 0.3 percent to $1.0747, pulling away from a 29-year high of $1.1081 hit last week.