Investing.com - The Swiss franc fell against the other major currencies on Thursday, extending the broad based decline seen in recent sessions amid heightened expectations for further intervention by the Swiss National Bank against the currency.
USD/CHF was up 1.57% to 0.9185, the strongest level since January 15. EUR/CHF added 1.58% to trade at 1.0374.
The franc has weakened this week, pressured lower by expectations that the SNB will intervene in the market to prevent the appreciation of the currency.
On Tuesday, SNB Vice President Jean-Pierre Danthine said it was still “fundamentally prepared” to intervene in currency markets, even after scrapping its cap.
The euro has been floating freely against the Swiss franc since Switzerland’s central bank abandoned its three-and-a-half year old 1.20 per euro exchange rate cap on January 15.
The bank also cut rates to minus 0.75%, from minus 0.25% previously.
The move came as prospects of quantitative easing by the European Central Bank to combat the threat of deflation in the euro area increased pressure on the Swiss franc.
The ECB unveiled a €60 billion a month government bond purchasing program on January 22.
Figures on Monday showed that sight deposits at the SNB rose almost 8% last week. It was the largest increase since July 2013, indicating that the bank has been purchasing foreign currency in the market.
In other trade, the franc was lower against the yen and the pound, with CHF/JPY dropping 1.44% to 127.98 and GBP/CHF advancing 1.76% to 1.3955.