Investing.com - The U.S. dollar extended losses against the Swiss franc on Monday, falling to a more than three-week low following dovish remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and unexpectedly weak U.S. housing data.
USD/CHF hit 0.9040 during U.S. morning trade, the pair’s lowest since March 1; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.9046, shedding 0.36%.
The pair was likely to find short-term support at 0.9008, the low of February 23 and resistance at 0.9136, the session high.
The dollar came under broad selling pressure amid concerns over a third round of monetary easing after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said that further monetary accommodation is needed to bring about big gains in the U.S. jobs market, which he described as “far from normal,” despite a recent improvement.
Meanwhile, an industry report showed that pending home sales in the U.S. declined unexpectedly in February, indicated that the recovery in the housing market remains uneven.
The National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index fell by 0.5% last month, confounding expectations for a 1.0% gain. Pending home sales rose by 2.0% in January.
The Swissie was almost unchanged against the euro, with EUR/CHF inching up 0.02% to hit 1.2052.
In the euro zone earlier, Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany would be prepared to allow running the region’s two bailout funds in parallel, which would give a total fund of EUR700 billion to combat the debt crisis in the single currency bloc.
However, investors remained cautious amid concerns over the threat of sovereign debt contagion from Spain, following a warning by Italy’s prime minister over the weekend.
USD/CHF hit 0.9040 during U.S. morning trade, the pair’s lowest since March 1; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.9046, shedding 0.36%.
The pair was likely to find short-term support at 0.9008, the low of February 23 and resistance at 0.9136, the session high.
The dollar came under broad selling pressure amid concerns over a third round of monetary easing after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said that further monetary accommodation is needed to bring about big gains in the U.S. jobs market, which he described as “far from normal,” despite a recent improvement.
Meanwhile, an industry report showed that pending home sales in the U.S. declined unexpectedly in February, indicated that the recovery in the housing market remains uneven.
The National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index fell by 0.5% last month, confounding expectations for a 1.0% gain. Pending home sales rose by 2.0% in January.
The Swissie was almost unchanged against the euro, with EUR/CHF inching up 0.02% to hit 1.2052.
In the euro zone earlier, Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany would be prepared to allow running the region’s two bailout funds in parallel, which would give a total fund of EUR700 billion to combat the debt crisis in the single currency bloc.
However, investors remained cautious amid concerns over the threat of sovereign debt contagion from Spain, following a warning by Italy’s prime minister over the weekend.