The franc rose against the euro before a speech by Swiss National Bank Governor Jean-Pierre Roth on his management of the economic crisis almost two weeks after the bank intervened to weaken the currency. “The depreciation that we saw at the back of the SNB quarterly meeting obviously has stalled quite a bit,” said Henrik Gullberg, a currency strategist in London at Deutsche Bank AG, the world’s largest currency trader. “I would expect Roth to, again, try and verbally intervene. Euro-Swiss is now established in a new range, and it might be better for them to ensure that we stay within this range for now.” The Swiss National Bank began buying currencies on March 12 to weaken the franc in its first solo intervention in foreign- exchange markets since 1992. Roth told the newspaper Finanz & Wirtschaft last week that it’s “crucial” that the franc not appreciate further to counter the risk of deflation. The franc increased 0.4 percent to 1.5275 per euro at 12:38 p.m. in Zurich, from 1.5335 yesterday. The currency depreciated 3.1 percent since the day before the SNB intervened after gaining 11 percent last year. It traded in a range of 1.5228 to 1.5447 from March 13 through today. The franc depreciated 0.3 percent 1.1281 per dollar today from 1.1248.

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