Swiss franc recoups losses

The safe-haven Swiss franc recouped some of its losses in Asia on Friday, having posted record one-day falls against the euro and dollar in the previous session after the Swiss National Bank threatened to step up its fight to curb the franc's strength.
On Friday, the franc gained 0.7 percent versus the euro to 1.0792, after having tumbled by as much as 6 percent on Thursday. Euro/Swiss, which hit a record low of 1.0075 on Tuesday on trading platform EBS, is still down 1.4 percent on the week. Much of the previous day's slide in the Swiss franc was sparked by a Swiss newspaper report, which quoted SNB Vice Chairman Thomas Jordan as saying the central bank could ease monetary policy further.
He also declined to rule out the possibility of pegging the franc to the euro. Still, there was scepticism toward the idea of pegging the Swiss franc to the euro, and analysts said the Swiss franc is likely to stay supported as long as worries about a global slowdown and debt problems in the United States and eurozone persisted. "If they were to introduce a peg, there would rightly be some questions as to their commitment to defending it, because it wouldn't be a structural decision to align their economy with Europe," said Todd Elmer, currency strategist at Citi in Singapore.
The dollar slipped 0.2 percent against the Swiss franc to 0.7602, some ways off from a record low of 0.70676 struck on Tuesday. A drop in US stock index futures dampened risk appetite and lent support to the Swiss franc and the yen, another currency highly sought in times of market distress. US S&P futures fell about 0.8 percent, taking some of the shine off of the previous day's bargain-hunting rally on Wall Street.
The euro dipped 0.3 percent against the dollar to $1.4196. The yen remained near a record high on the dollar despite recent intervention by Japan to weaken it. The dollar held steady against the yen at 76.82 yen, near an all-time low of 76.25 yen set in mid-March. There has been talk of option barriers at 76.25 yen and 76.00 yen.
That suggests that dollar-buying by options players could emerge near such levels and cushion the dollar's fall, but it also means the dollar's drop could gain steam if such barriers are breached. Given the dollar's recent drop down close to its record low against the yen, jitters and speculation about the potential for Japanese yen-selling intervention have been high. In a sign of such market sentiment, traders have cited heightened demand recently for short-dated dollar call options with strike prices roughly around 78 yen to 79 yen.