The Swiss franc showed strength against its major opponents in Asian trading on Tuesday as traders await Switzerland's inflation report for June. The franc climbed to a 4-day high against the euro and the U.S. dollar and rebounded from its early Asian session's 4-day low against the yen. Switzerland's Federal Statistical Office is set to release its consumer price index for June at 3:15 am ET. The CPI is expected to rise 0.9% on year, while a 0.1 percent decline is expected on the month. In May, the consumer price annual inflation slowed to 1.1% from 1.4% in April. The annual rate stood below the expected 1.2%. Month-on-month, consumer prices dropped 0.1% in May, while economists had been expecting it to stay flat. Slowing down the inflation may prompt the Swiss National Bank to hold the interest rate steady for sometimes now, which in turn makes the franc less attractive to investors. Data released from Switzerland yesterday showed that retail sales growth in May accelerated to 3.8% year-on-year from the prior reading of 1.3% on year. However, the pace of the growth slowed to 1.3 percent on month from 1.5% reading in April. The Swiss franc advanced to a 4-day high of 1.3291 against the euro around 11:35 pm ET and the next likely resistance level for the domestic currency is seen at 1.3170. Thereafter, the euro-franc pair moved sideways and is presently quoted at 1.3297. Against the US dollar also, the Swiss currency soared to a 4-day high of 1.0605 at this time and a move above the 1.0580 resistance could set its strongest level in nearly 3 months. The greenback-franc pair is presently quoted at 1.0611. The Swiss franc rose to as high as 1.6060 against the pound around 11:40 pm ET and the pair moved sideways thereafter. The domestic unit thus tested yesterday's 4-day high of 1.6058 against the pound. The pound-franc pair is presently worth 1.6070 with 1.60 seen as the next likely target level. Bouncing back from its early Asian session's 4-day low of 82.03 against the yen, the Swiss franc reached as high as 82.67 before leveling off around 11:35 pm ET. The franc-yen pair is presently quoted at 82.61 and the next upside target is likely to be seen around the 82.80 level in near-term. Looking ahead, Japan will provide preliminary May numbers for its leading and coincident indexes at 1:00 am ET. The leading index is expected to come in at 98.9, down from 101.7 in April. The coincident is forecast to show a score of 101.2, down barely from 101.3 in the previous month. The U.S. Institute of Supply Management's non-manufacturing composite index for June is expected in the New York session.

Source