USD/CHF trades with modest losses, but holds above 0.9900 handle

• The prevalent cautions mood underpinned CHF’s safe-haven demand.
• The USD remained on the defensive amid firming Fed rate cut expectations.
• The downside remained limited amid a modest uptick in the US bond yields.

The USD/CHF pair edged lower on Friday and eroded a major part of the previous session positive move, albeit managed to find some support ahead of the 0.9900 handle.
 
Having climbed to over one-week tops, around the 0.9930 region, the pair witnessed a modest pullback and for now, seems to have snapped four consecutive days of winning streak. Reviving safe-haven demand, amid a softer mood around equity markets, underpinned the Swiss Franc and was seen as one of the key factors exerting some downward pressure on the major.

Weighed down by reviving safe-haven demand

Against the backdrop of growing concerns about slowing global economic growth, risk of an early snap election in the UK weighed on investors’ sentiment. Meanwhile, the US Dollar remained on the defensive amid firming expectations that the Fed will cut interest rates again in October further collaborated to the pair’s mildly weaker tone through the early European session.
 
However, a modest uptick in the US Treasury bond yields extended some support to the Greenback and helped limit any deeper losses for the major, at least for the time being. In absence of any major market-moving economic releases from the US, the broader market risk sentiment and the USD price dynamics might continue to act as key determinants of the pair’s momentum on Friday.

Technical levels to watch