USD/CHF sits near 1-week lows, below 0.9700 mark

• USD/CHF once again faced rejection near 100-day SMA amid broad-based USD weakness.
• The Fed’s announcement to provide up to $2.3 trillion in loans further weighed on the buck.
• The prevailing risk-on mood undermined the CHF’s safe-haven status and helped limit losses.

The USD/CHF pair edged lower during the early North-American session and dropped to one-week lows, around the 0.9665 region in the last hour.

Having repeatedly failed to move back above the 100-day SMA, the pair came under some fresh selling pressure on Thursday and was being weighed down by some heavy intraday selling pressure surrounding the US dollar.

The greenback lost some additional ground in reaction to yet another weaker US initial weekly jobless claims data. The bearish pressure aggravated further after the Fed announced to provide up to $2.3 trillion in loans to support the economy.

The negative factor, to some extent, was offset by the prevailing positive mood around the equity markets, supported by the latest optimism that the coronavirus pandemic may be reaching its peak soon.

The risk-on flows dented the Swiss franc’s perceived safe-haven status and turned out to be the only factor that helped limit further losses, at least for the time being and ahead of the Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s scheduled speech.

Technical levels to watch