ZURICH: The Swiss franc crept higher against the euro and the dollar on Tuesday amid tentative trading ahead of the US Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting starting later in the day. Investors have held back from taking large positions as they await the Fed's policy statement on Wednesday for clues on when the U.S central bank will start trimming back on its massive stimulus programme. "It's another waiting day, we have a lot of important data points later in the week so people aren't going to change positions a lot today," said J. Safra Sarasin economist Alessandro Bee. "We aren't expecting any major surprises from the Fed, as (Federal Reserve Chairman Ben) Bernanke has already assured a continuing accommodative monetary policy at least for the foreseeable future." The franc rose 0.1 percent against the dollar compared to the New York close, trading at 0.9304 francs per dollar at 0648 GMT. The franc was also up 0.1 percent against the euro to 1.2335 per euro. Bee said manufacturing data due on Thursday will give investors more of a sense of the direction of the US economy, but more crucial still would be Friday's US labour market report, as the Fed wants to see further improvement in jobs and growth before tapering its stimulus measures.

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