Investing.com - The U.S. dollar edged lower against the Swiss franc on Thursday, pulling away from seven-month highs as investors locked in profits following the greenback's recent upward trend and as upbeat Swiss trade data supported the franc.
USD/CHF hit 0.9119 during European late morning trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.9127, easing 0.09%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.9138, Wednesday's low and resistance at 0.9156.
The dollar remained broadly supported after Wednesday’s minutes of the Fed’s July meeting showed that some officials believe the strengthening recovery and ongoing improvement in the labor market supports a move towards tightening monetary policy.
Other officials want to see further evidence of economic recovery before moving towards raising rates.
Investors were looking ahead to a speech by Fed Chair Janet Yellen in Jackson Hole on Friday for further indications on the possible future direction of monetary policy.
In Switzerland, official data earlier showed that the trade surplus widened to 3.98 billion Swiss francs last month, from 1.41 billion Swiss francs in June, whose figure was upwardly revised from a previously estimated surplus of 1.38 billion Swiss francs.
Analysts had expected the trade surplus to widen to 1.91 billion Swiss francs in July.
The Swissie was steady against the euro, with EUR/CHF dipping 0.02% to 1.2110.
Also Thursday, data showed that activity in the euro zone’s manufacturing sector slowed to a 13 month low in August, with the euro zone manufacturing purchasing managers' index down to 50.8 from 51.8 in July. Economists had forecast a decline to 51.3.
The region’s services PMI slid to 53.5 from 54.2 in July, in line with forecasts.
Activity in Germany’s factor sector slowed but remained solid, while manufacturing activity in France contracted for a sixth successive month.