The euro traded higher against the Swiss franc on Monday, despite the annualized harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) in the Euro zone came in below forecasts during February, while Crimean vote weighed on Swiss francs demand.
EUR/CHF gained 0.16% today to trade at 1.2155 at 10:31 GMT. The pair touched a session high at 1.2158 at 9:05 GMT. Support was likely to be received at March 14th low, 1.2123, while resistance was to be met at March 13th high, 1.2168.
The annualized rate of consumer inflation in the single currency zone was reported to have weakened in February, which may put pressure on the European Central Bank to introduce new measures in order to spur economic growth. The annualized HICP came in at 0.7% last month, a level last seen during October 2013, which was still far below central banks inflation objective of 2%, that provides price stability. Experts had anticipated that the annual inflation rate will remain steady at 0.8% in February.
In November the ECB cut its benchmark rate by 0.25% to the all-time low level of 0.25%, following data by Eurostat, which revealed Octobers rate of inflation in the Euro region slowed down to 0.7%.
Meanwhile, the preliminary results from Crimea’s referendum on March 16th revealed that 96% of voters in the peninsula supported leaving Ukraine and joining Russia. The Ukrainian government, the European Union and the United States consider this vote as illegitimate, while the Russian Federation said that it “fully met international norms.”
European Union foreign ministers are expected to hold a meeting in Brussels today in order to discuss travel bans and asset freezes on some Russian officials, as Russia’s government intends to annex Crimea, Bloomberg reported.
Safe haven demand for the yen and the franc seemed to be reduced.
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