USD/CHF hits nearly two-month high around mid-1.0100s

The USD/CHF pair maintained its bid tone for the second consecutive session and extended its up-move to nearly two-month tops.

Currently trading around mid-1.0100s, the pair moved little after data released from the US showed country’s trade deficit jumped to $48.5 billion in January, broadly in-line with consensus estimates. 

The reading, however, was much higher-than previous month’s $44.3 billion deficit reported but did little to distort a mildly positive sentiment surrounding the US Dollar, against the backdrop of growing prospects for an eventual rate-hike action at the Federal Reserve’s upcoming meeting on March 14-15. 

With the US economic data out of the way, Fed rate-hike expectations would remain an exclusive driver of the pair’s movement ahead of this week’s important release of the US monthly jobs data (NFP) on Friday.

Technical levels to watch

Momentum beyond 1.0170 level seems more likely to assist the pair to reclaim 1.0200 handle, above which the up-move is likely to accelerate further towards mid-1.0200s (Jan. 11 high). On the downside, 1.0135-30 area now becomes immediate support to defend, which if broken could drag the pair back below the 1.0100 handle towards an important horizontal support near 1.0080-75 area.