The Swiss franc strengthened to records against the dollar, euro and the pound as investors sought a haven after the U.S credit rating was placed on review for downgrade and Greece was cut to Fitch Ratings’ lowest grade. Switzerland’s currency appreciated against 11 of its 16 major peers tracked by Bloomberg as Asian and European equity markets declined. Moody’s Investors Service said it may cut the U.S. credit rating as talks on raising the debt limit stayed deadlocked. Fitch lowered Greece’s rating three notches to CCC. “The fear of the U.S. downgrade has led to a swift move to the safe haven currency,” said Sebastien Galy, a foreign- exchange analyst at Societe Generale in London. “Any downgrade in the euro group has increasingly less impact as there is increasing belief that we are moving towards some kind of solution. What is moving the franc now is the dollar.” The Swiss currency appreciated 1.2 percent to a record 80.83 centimes per dollar before trading at 81.47 centimes as of 9:36 a.m. in London. It weakened 0.1 percent to 1.1598 per euro after reaching 1.14945. It gained 0.2 percent to 1.3142 versus the pound after appreciating to an all-time high of 1.3056. The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.3 percent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.2 percent. The franc strengthened even after the Swiss National Bank warned it may intervene to weaken the currency. “If there was a situation with a deflation threat, then we’d have the possibility to act,” SNB Vice President Thomas Jordan said yesterday in Zurich when asked whether policy makers would be willing to purchase foreign currencies in order to weaken the franc. The franc has gained more than 16 percent in the last 12 months against nine developed-market peers measured by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Currency Indexes. To contact the reporter on this story: Emily Blewett in London at eblewett@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net `

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