The Swiss franc strengthened modestly on Monday in early deals despite the alpine economy's industrial production data disappointed the market.
However, trading volumes remained relatively thin the foreign exchange market due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the United States.
Switzerland's industrial production grew at a slower pace in the third quarter, the Federal Statistical Office said today.
Industrial output logged an annual growth of 2.2 percent, down from 4.7 percent in the second quarter. Likewise, growth in turnover slowed to 2.3 percent from 3.3 percent in the prior quarter.
At the same time, orders received dropped 0.7 percent, which was slower than the 1.6 percent fall seen in the second quarter. Similarly, orders on hand fell 3.9 percent after staying flat a quarter ago.
Elsewhere, Switzerland's money supply growth accelerated for the fourth consecutive month in December, the Swiss National Bank said today.
M3 climbed at a pace of 9.8 percent year-on-year in December, faster than the 9.4 percent increase seen in the prior quarter.
Traders keep their eyes peeled for the outcome of the eurozone finance ministers meeting in Brussels, which may discuss a possible bailout for Cyprus and find out a successor for Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker.
Investors also turned their focus to the two-day policy meeting of the Bank of Japan which concludes tomorrow.
The outcome of the meeting is important as the central bank is widely predicted to move along with the policies of the newly elected Prime Minister Abe, who favors an unlimited monetary easing to counter deflation.
Abe also wants the benchmark rate to be slashed to zero or lower and was pushing for the central bank inflation target of up to 2 percent and the GDP target of 3 percent.
British house prices increased marginally in January, recovering from sharp declines in the past two months as new sellers coming to market adopted a pragmatic pricing approach, a survey by Rightmove revealed today.
Moreover, the jump in the number of sellers coming to the market underpin market confidence and lifted Rightmove traffic.
House prices rose 0.2 percent month-on-month in January, following 3.3 percent fall in December and 2.6 percent drop in November. The average asking prices for a property in the UK totaled GBP 229,429.
Annually, prices surged by 2.4 percent. Rightmove said early indicators suggest a modest rise in both prices and transaction numbers in 2013.
The franc appreciated 0.24 percent to reach a session's high of 0.9314 against the dollar around 4:15 am ET after the industrial production report.
A bearish reversal is expected for the franc with a likely resistance target of 0.9220 visible as the USD/CHF pair is looking out for a pull back from nearly a 3-month high of about the 0.94 area, which was set on Friday.
The franc also strengthened against the European shared currency, rising as high as 1.2395 around 4:10 am ET and the pair was hovering around the 1.2415 since then.
The recent bearish wave against the euro seems to have halted below the 1.2572 level set on Friday, with 1.2375 seen as the next barrier on the upside.
The franc rose to a weekly high of 1.4787 against the pound before slipping back to below the 1.48 area around 4:10 am ET. The next resistance zone for the Switzerland currency is seen at 1.4720/30.
The Swiss franc drifted weaker to 95.80 against the yen in the Asian session and the pair failed to gain control above the 96.00/20 level in the European session.
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Forex News
May 22, 2026 14:46 ET Minutes of the latest Fed policy session was the highlight of the week along with survey data on the U.S. housing market. In Europe, survey data signaled the trends in the euro area private sector. Further, consumer price inflation data from the U.K. was in focus. In Asia, various economic indicators from China drew attention to the health of the economy.