Swiss Franc Falls Amid Credit Suisse Debt Woes

(RTTNews) - The Swiss franc Weakened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Thursday, as concerns about the debt woes of Swiss lender Credit Suisse triggered massive sell off in the currency.

Credit Suisse shares fell nearly 25 percent in the Swiss market after Saudi National Bank, the bank's largest investor, reportedly said it would not provide any more funding to the Swiss lender.

Reuters quotes Saudi National Bank's chairman Ammar Al Khudairy as saying that Saudi National Bank cannot provide the Swiss bank with more financial assistance, as "We cannot because we would go above 10%. It's a regulatory issue."

Wednesday, the Swiss franc was retreating from early highs against its major counterparts.

In the Asian session today, the Swiss franc fell to more than a 1-month low of 142.44 against the yen and a 10-day low of 1.1257 against the pound, from yesterday's closing quotes of 142.82 and 1.1240, respectively. If the franc extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 141.00 against the yen and 1.13 against the pound.

Against the euro and the U.S. dollar, the franc dropped to 1-week lows of 0.9881 and 0.9340 from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.9868 and 0.9327, respectively. The franc may find support around 0.99 against the euro and 0.95 against the greenback.

Looking ahead, Canada final wholesale sales data for January. U.S. building permits, housing starts, export and import prices, all for February, and U.S. weekly jobless claims data are due to be released in the New York session.

At 8:15 am ET, European Central Bank's Monetary policy decision is due. The central bank has signaled for another 50-basis point increase on today's meeting.