Forex - Aussie up in Asia as market digests implications of CHF move

Investing.com - The Aussie gained on Friday in Asia with no major data on the cards with investors still digesting the regional implications of a surprise Swiss move to cease exchange controls and drastically cut interest rates.

AUD/USD traded at 0.8230, up 0.19%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 116.30, up 0.13% and EUR/USD at 1.1628, down 0.02%.

Overnight, the dollar regained ground against the other major currencies on Thursday, hovering even closer to fresh 12-year highs despite the release of data showing that manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia-region expanded at the slowest pace in 11 months in January.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that its manufacturing index deteriorated to a reading of 6.3 this month from December’s reading of 24.5. Analysts had expected the index to decline to 19.9 in January.

The report came shortly after the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that its general business conditions index increased to 10.0 this month from a reading of -3.6 in December. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 5.0 in January.

Also Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending January 9 increased by 19,000 to 316,000 from the previous week’s total of 297,000.

Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to decline by 6,000 to 291,000 last week.

Separately, the Commerce Department said that U.S. producer prices fell 0.3% last month, compared to forecasts for a 0.4% decline, after falling 0.2% in November.

The core producer price index eased up 0.3% last month, above expectations for a gain of 0.1% and following a flat reading in November.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, eased 0.05% to 92.47.

USD/CHF hit three-year lows of 0.7462 before retracing to 0.9065, down 11.07% and EUR/CHF hit lows of 0.8204, before pulling back to 1.0527, plummeting 12.31% for the day after the Swiss National Bank abandoned its exchange rate cap against the single currency, which it introduced four years ago.

The SNB shocked markets on Thursday by scrapping the 1.20 per euro exchange rate floor it imposed in September 2011, in a bid to stave off deflation and prevent the continued appreciation of the safe-haven franc.

The central bank also cut rates to minus 0.75%, from minus 0.25% and lowered its target range for the three-month Libor to minus 1.25% to minus 0.25%, from minus 0.75% to 0.25%.

The single currency remained under broad selling pressure after an interim ruling by the European Court of Justice on Wednesday was seen as clearing the way for the ECB to implement quantitative easing measures at its upcoming meeting on January 22.

The advocate general of the European Court of Justice, Pedro Cruz Villalon, advised judges to approve the ECB's Outright Monetary Transactions program, a measure which was launched in 2012.