Swiss Franc Rises After SNB Rate Decision

(RTTNews) - The Swiss franc strengthened against other major currencies in the European session on Thursday, after the Swiss National Bank left its interest rate unchanged for the second straight meeting amid weaker inflation outlooks.

The SNB maintained its policy rate at zero percent, in line with expectations.

The central bank had reduced the key rate by 175 basis points since March 2024. The bank exited its negative rate in 2022 after holding it for over seven years.

Banks' sight deposits held at the central bank will be remunerated at the SNB policy rate up to a certain threshold. The discount for sight deposits above this threshold still stands at 0.25 percentage points.

The bank reiterated that it remains willing to be active in the foreign exchange market as necessary.

The bank said it will continue to monitor the situation and adjust its monetary policy, if necessary, in order to ensure price stability.

European stocks traded lower despite the U.S. Federal Reserve delivering a less hawkish outlook than some had anticipated.

Tech shares may face selling pressure after cloud computing giant Oracle's revenues fell short of Wall Street estimates.

In the European trading today, the Swiss franc rose to a 1-week high of 0.9335 against the euro and an 8-day high of 1.0661 against the pound, from early lows of 0.9357 and 1.0703, respectively. If the franc extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 0.92 against the euro and 1.05 against the pound.

Against the U.S. dollar and the yen, the franc climbed to nearly a 1-month high of 0.7979 and nearly a 3-week high of 195.33 from early lows of 0.7979 an 194.62, respectively. The franc may test resistance near 0.78 against the greenback and 196.00 against the yen.

Looking ahead, U.S. and Canada trade data for September and U.S. weekly jobless claims are due to be released in the New York session.