AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Swiss franc fell to its lowest level in almost seven months against the euro on Monday as the Brexit trade deal remains in focus, while the dollar fell after US President Donald Trump signed a COVID-19 bill , which a government has repulsed. turn off.
The Swiss franc fell 0.3% to 1.08860 against the euro, the lowest since June 8. It was unchanged against the US dollar at 88,835 cents at 0903 GMT.
“What we are seeing is a continuation of the pricing of hard Brexit risk,” said Ulrich Leuchtmann, head of FX research at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
“I think many market participants saw Switzerland as an alternative to the euro, which would have been hit harder by a hard Brexit,” he said. Investors would likely close such positions in the next sessions, he added.
The euro rose 0.1% $ 0.12370, near its 2 1/2 year high of $ 1.2273 this month.
In the United States, Trump has signed a $ 2.3 billion pandemic aid and spending package, which prevented a partial shutdown by the federal government that would begin on Tuesday.
The dollar fell 0.3% against a basket of currencies to 90,031, the lowest in a week.
The boost to the risk appetite also hurt government bonds in safe haven, with the US Treasury yield period of ten years with 2 basis points at 0.95%. Germany’s standard yield for ten years was unchanged at -0.55%.
Meanwhile, Britain’s British pound added 0.1% against the US dollar to $ 1.3551, keeping in mind the $ 1.3625 mark it reached for the first time since May 2018 earlier this month.
It approached the level on Thursday when Britain and the EU announced the trade agreement.
The pound depreciated by 0.5% against the euro at 90,280 pence.
“Markets are likely to wait until next week before buying again (sterling), for fear of massive bottlenecks at the English Channel as the new rules take effect,” Jeffrey Haley, senior market analyst at OANDA, told clients.
Although the agreement has made a relief for investors, Britain is leaving Britain’s exposed nature of the treaty much more separate from the EU, analysts say, suggesting that subsequent gains will be modest and that the rebates offered to British assets since 2016 cause, will not disappear anytime soon.
Brussels has not yet made a decision on whether Britain will grant access to the bloc’s financial market.
Mitsuo Imaizumi, chief FX strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo, expects the pound and the euro to fall against the dollar, reaching $ 1.30 and $ 1.15 respectively by the end of the summer.
The Australian dollar, a trade-sensitive currency, rose to 76,110 US cents, compared to the 2 1/2 year high of 76,390 reached this month.
Yields on 10-year Southern European bonds – which are considered riskier due to their lower credit ratings – fell 2-3 basis points.
The yuan climbed after China’s central bank raised its official lead level to its highest in 30 months, to as high as 6.5280 against the dollar in the land market, but was last unchanged at 6.5408.
It was last 0.3% lower in the foreign market at 6.5311.
The yen rose slightly against the dollar, by 0.1% at 103,455. .
Policymakers in central Japan have been divided over how far they should go to examine yield control, and some are calling for a comprehensive review of the framework, a summary of the opinions expressed during the December rate assessment, Monday showed.
Reporting by Yoruk Bahceli; additional reporting by Kevin Buckland in Tokyo; Edited by Andrew Heavens