ZURICH: The Swiss franc was little moved on Tuesday, trading just off an eight-month high hit against the greenback on Monday. The safe-haven currency has largely tracked the euro since the Swiss National Bank imposed a limit of 1.20 per euro in 2011 and has rallied with the single currency since Friday after the Fed's $85 billion-a-month programme to buy mortgage-backed securities and Treasuries weighed on the U.S. unit. The franc was flat at 0.9176 against the dollar at 0706 GMT compared to the New York close and was also unmoved against the euro at 1.2083. The euro was supported against the dollar by an improvement in risk appetite on hopes of a progress on the U.S. budget stalemate. U.S. President Barack Obama and top Republican John Boehner met at the White House on Monday to discuss how to avert tax hikes and spending cuts that economists fear could push the economy into recession. "Signs of some further flexibility on both sides reveal that negotiations over the U.S. fiscal cliff are progressing, albeit very slowly," said Mitul Kotecha, global head of foreign exchange strategy at Credit Agricole. "Against this background U.S. equities posted gains while risk measures improved ... The overall tone is likely to continue to be constructive for risk assets." As the euro zone crisis has eased in recent months, the franc has weakened away from the 1.20 limit, lessening the need for the SNB to intervene to defend the cap. However the amount of cash commercial banks hold with the SNB - a measure of how inclined banks are to find an ultra-safe home for their money - rose last week to 294.270 billion Swiss francs from 292.764 billion the previous week.

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