Previous close | 0.9551 |
Open | 0.9545 |
Bid | 0.9592 |
Day's range | 0.9538 - 0.9642 |
52-week range | 0.9019 - 1.0063 |
Ask | 0.9599 |
(Bloomberg) -- The Swiss franc staged its biggest rally in years against the euro and the US dollar after the Swiss National Bank unexpectedly hiked rates by 50 basis points.Most Read from BloombergChina Says It May Have Detected Signals From Alien CivilizationsStocks Jump as Powell Soothes Wall Street’s Nerves: Markets WrapFed Hikes 75 Basis Points; Powell Says 75 or 50 Likely in JulyWorld’s Central Banks Got It Wrong, and Economies Pay the PriceAmericans Are Building Vacation-Home Empires With
LONDON (Reuters) -Switzerland's franc soared on Thursday after the Swiss National Bank took markets by surprise with a large interest rate hike, putting the currency on track for its biggest one-day rise against the euro in more than seven years. The central bank had broadly been expected to stand pat on a -0.75% interest rate that was the lowest in any major developed country, though some banks had suggested a quarter-point was possible. Instead, the SNB increased its policy rate to -0.25% from the -0.75% level it has deployed since 2015.
The Swiss franc soared against the dollar and the euro on Thursday after the Swiss National Bank delivered a surprise interest rate hike, while the British pound rose after the Bank of England delivered a rate hike of its own. The SNB joined other central banks in tightening monetary policy in its first rate hike in 15 years, increasing its policy rate to -0.25% from the -0.75% it has deployed since 2015. The move put the Swiss franc on pace for its largest daily jump against the euro since the SNB ditched its currency peg in 2015, with the common currency tumbling 1.9% to 1.019 francs, a 2-month low.