* SNB chairman says to prevent excessive franc rise vs euro
* Hildebrand says will monitor FX markets very closely
* Surprise statement a warning of possible intervention
* Analyst says verbal intervention may not be enough
(Adds Hildebrand TV comments)
By Lisa Jucca and Sven Egenter
ZURICH, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank will fight any excessive rise of the Swiss franc against the euro, chairman Philipp Hildebrand said in a surprise statement on Monday that reminded markets the central bank could intervene.
The Swiss franc weakened on the comments but analysts said the central bank may have to intervene eventually because the currency remained well supported and markets looked set to test the SNB's pain threshold.
"The SNB will continue to prevent any excessive appreciation of the Swiss franc against the euro," Hildebrand, who became head of the central bank on Jan. 1, said in his first official comments since taking over the job.
"The SNB has no exchange rate target but it will monitor foreign exchange market developments very closely," he said in an ad hoc statement released to reporters.
The Swiss franc slipped against the euro in reaction to Hildebrand's comments, trading at 1.4759 by 1525 GMT after hitting a 10-month high against the euro at 1.4721 francs per euro earlier in the day.
The franc had breached what many analysts regarded as the SNB's intervention threshold of 1.50 per euro on Dec. 18.
"Given the recent (euro-Swiss) decline Hildebrand obviously wanted to inject some uncertainty into the market. Basically, I think 1.4650 is the pain threshold for the SNB and comments today are an initial warning," said Henrik Gullberg of Deutsche Bank.
"I think currency concerns will delay SNB tightening, and that the SNB will lag other central banks in this cycle," Gullberg also said.
Most economists expect the Swiss central bank to start raising rates in the second half of 2010 and markets price in a first small hike by September.<0#FES:>
The Swiss statistics office said last week consumer prices fell on average 0.5 percent in 2009, the first full-year price decline since 1959 and raising the prospect of further deflation risks in the months ahead. [ID:nLDE6060K4]
Keeping the franc from appreciating against the euro is one way the central bank can stave off deflationary pressures.
UBS analyst Reto Huenerwadel said the franc was also supported by the fact that the Swiss economy seemed to be faring better than that of the euro zone, where Greece's debt problems are weighing on the single European currency.
RELAXED STANCE
In a separate interview with Swiss television, Hildebrand said keeping interest rates low in the long term could cause problems in the economy and that raising rates would be a sign Switzerland had overcome the recession. [ID:nWEB4625]
The SNB relaxed its intervention policy, which it launched in March 2009 as part of a package of drastic measures to fight a deep recession and deflation risks, at its Dec. 10 meeting.
The central bank said at the time it would prevent an excessive rise of the franc rather than any appreciation in the currency. The franc has since risen steadily.
Switzerland emerged from recession in the third quarter of last year, and the SNB forecasts growth of 0.5 to 1.0 percent for 2010 and inflation of 0.5 percent.
Although the SNB is unwinding some of its unconventional measures, it has cautioned that the recovery remains fragile.
Swiss retail data for November showed that sales grew by 0.6 percent on the year when adjusted for inflation but fell by 1.7 percent compared to October when also adjusted for seasonal factors. [ID:nLDE60A0J3]
"These are stable numbers, but there is more an open question for what will happen in the first quarter of 2010 given rising unemployment," said Julius Baer analyst Janwillem Acket.
(additional reporting by Catherine Bosley, editing by Toby Chopra)