ZURICH: The Swiss franc weakened a touch against the greenback towards a 19-month low hit the previous week and was treading water against the euro, with risk aversion on one hand and the central bank's cap on the other constraining the trading range.
Moves were also subdued because Tokyo markets were closed for a public holiday on Monday and investors anxiously awaited Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke's testimony before Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday for any hint of additional monetary stimulus.
Since the Swiss National Bank imposed a cap of 1.20 per euro on the franc last Sept. 6, the "Swissie" has been trading largely in tandem with the euro.
The cap was set to shield Switzerland from a recession after safe-haven investors worried about the euro zone's debt crisis piled into the franc, and nearly pushed it to parity with the common currency.
The main item on the day's agenda is the release at 0700 GMT of sight deposit data -- the amount of cash commercial banks hold with the central bank.
"Chances are that increased uncertainty in Europe resulted in a more pronounced increase in sight deposits after a week of relative quiet up to July 6," said UBS economist Reto Huenerwadel.
In an interview at the weekend, the new head of Switzerland's federal budget office said the cap was essential for the economy and could be maintained by the central bank.
The franc fell 0.1 percent against the dollar to trade at 0.9818 by 0541 GMT compared to Friday's New York close, off the 19-month low of 0.9873 hit last Friday.
The franc was flat against the euro at 1.2009.
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