Swiss National Bank posts record profit in first quarter

ZURICH (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank on Thursday posted a first quarter profit of 58.8 billion Swiss francs ($64.34 billion), as the weakening franc and booming equity markets pushed the central bank to its highest ever quarterly profit.

The result compared with a profit of 26.9 billion francs a year earlier and beat forecasts from economists at UBS, who had expected a profit of 40 billion to 50 billion Swiss francs.

It also exceeded the SNB's previous highest quarterly profit of 38.9 billion francs from the second quarter of 2020.

During the quarter the SNB made a profit of 52.4 billion from its foreign currency positions, helped by rising global stock markets at the start of the year, with the MSCI World Price Index up 10% in the first quarter.

The central bank owns roughly 170 billion francs worth of stocks, including stakes in Google owner Alphabet, Apple and Starbucks as part of its massive pile of foreign currency investments.

The weakening franc, which lost around 5% against the euro and 7.5% against the dollar in the first quarter, also boosted the franc value of the SNB's foreign holdings.

The SNB made a valuation gain of 8.9 billion francs from its gold holdings, as prices of the precious metal surged 15% during the quarter amid concerns about tensions in the Middle East.

($1 = 0.9139 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by John Revill, Editing by Rachel More)