USD/CHF advances to fresh two-week highs ahead of US data

After spiking to 0.9735 following the SNB's decision to keep its sight deposit rate unchanged at -0.75%, the USD/CHF pair eased back to the 0.97 handle before starting another leg up and reached its highest level since late May at 0.9752. As of writing, the pair is trading at 0.9747, up 0.35% on the day.

• SNB keeps key rate on-hold at -0.75%

The pair's price action on Thursday seems to be driven by the steady rise witnessed in the US Dollar Index. Following the initial upsurge toward the 97 mark, the index spent the Asian session consolidating in a tight range around that level before starting a sustainable rise in the European session. In the last minutes, the index touched its highest level of this week at 97.35 and is now at 97.33, up 0.43% on the day.

In a short while, the weekly jobless claims data and import/export price index numbers will be released from the United States. In her statement post-FOMC decision, Fed's Chairwoman Yellen said that the pickup in global growth was helping U.S. exports this year and investors will look for a confirmation of this statement in today's data. Moreover, industrial production and capacity utilization figures from the U.S. will be released later in the session as well. 

Technical outlook

After rising for two straight days, the RSI on the daily graph moved above the 50 mark for the first time since early May, suggesting that the pair has potential to extend its gains in near-term. The pair could face the first tough resistance at 0.9800 (Fib. 38.2% retracement of May 11 - Jun. 6 fall/psychological level) ahead of 0.9900 (psychological level) and 0.9935 (100-DMA). To the downside, supports are located at 0.9700 (20-DMA), 0.9610 (Jun. 6 low) and 0.9550 (Nov. 9 low).

• USD/CHF upside could test 0.9800/55 – Commerzbank