USD/CHF moved higher after Fed minutes

US dollar gained ground also against the Swiss franc on Thursday, after the minutes of Federal Reserves July meeting showed that policymakers expressed different opinions about the timing of banks stimulus program scale back.

USD/CHF hit a session high at 0.9289 at 10:36 GMT, also the pairs highest since August 19th, after which the pair consolidated at 0.9265, advancing 0.44% for the day. Support was likely to be received at August 21st low, 0.9163, while resistance was to be encountered at August 13th high, 0.9348.

The minutes of Fed’s most recent meeting showed that policymakers were “broadly comfortable” with Chairman Ben Bernanke’s time frame to begin asset purchase tapering this year, if the economy improves, with a few officials saying a reduction might be necessary soon. “Almost all committee members agreed that a change in the purchase program was not yet appropriate,” and a few stated that “it might soon be time to slow somewhat the pace of purchases as outlined in that plan,” according to the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s July 30-31st meeting released yesterday. Recent economic data out of the United States was described as “mixed” in the minutes, so it is understandable that tapering the easing program may be delayed, if economic development still showed weak results.

Later today the United States will release data on initial jobless claims and the advance value of manufacturing PMI. Better than anticipated results would certainly add to the appeal of the greenback.

In the mean time, earlier on trading Thursday a report showed that Switzerland recorded lesser than projected surplus on its trade balance during July. The surplus amounted at 2.38 billion CHF, while expectations pointed a surplus of 2.60 billion CHF. Junes figure was revised up to 2.82 billion CHF from 2.73 billion CHF previously.

Elsewhere, the Swiss franc was lower against the euro, with EUR/CHF cross advancing 0.28% to trade at 1.2355 at 11:30 GMT. The euro found support after the positive manufacturing and service PMI data out of the Euro zone, released earlier on Thursday. On the other hand, the franc was unchanged against the sterling, as GBP/CHF pair was trading at 1.4449 at 11:31 GMT.