ZURICH: The Swiss franc tracked the euro higher against the dollar on Wednesday after upbeat US and German data and strong demand for Spanish debt tempered risk aversion.
"Risk was firmly on yesterday on the back of a well-received Spanish bill auction and better-than-expected data releases," Credit Agricole analysts wrote in a note.
With no more scheduled Swiss economic data this week, the franc is likely to take direction from factors outside Switzerland, analysts said, although a parliamentary debate later on Wednesday on the strong franc could attract attention.
The franc rose 0.4 percent against the dollar to trade at 0.9281 by 0749 GMT compared to the New York close.
The franc rose 0.1 percent against the euro to trade at 1.217 per euro.
The euro extended gains against the dollar in Asian trade on Wednesday, on short-covering ahead of the European Central Bank's first offer of three-year loans that many hope will help the region's banks lower their funding costs.
The franc has traded in a tight range against the euro since the Swiss National Bank imposed a cap of 1.20 francs per euro on Sept. 6 after the currency almost hit parity as the spiralling euro zone crisis pushed droves of investors into the franc.
But November trade data out on Tuesday unexpectedly showed exports are holding up relatively well despite the strong currency largely due to a 16.2 percent rise in watch exports and a 9.2 percent increase in chemicals exports.
Speculation had mounted that the SNB might move the cap to weaken the franc further, putting pressure on the currency, but the franc jumped last week after the SNB held its fire at its quarterly monetary policy meeting.
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