Swiss franc hits record versus euro; dollar edges higher

The Swiss franc surged to an all-time high against the euro on Tuesday as investors' confidence was shattered by extended falls in share prices, prompting them to flock to safe haven currencies.The yen advanced while the dollar strengthened versus commodity currencies as Wall Street's biggest sell-off since December 2008 prompted a massive flight to safety, but wariness over possible intervention made investors cautious about testing the yen to record high levels.Risk-related currencies found some respite after Asian bourses bounced off intraday lows with Tokyo's stock market trimming losses to 1.7 percent from more than 4 percent and Seoul shares recouping more than a half of more than 8 percent intraday falls. "The yen and the Swiss franc are drawing extremely strong demand as plunges in global shares are having a major psychological impact, forcing investors to refrain from holding risk assets," said Teppei Ino, a currency analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. The dollar was down 0.4 percent at 0.7514 Swiss franc, edging higher after coming close to an all-time low around 0.7483 reached the previous day.The euro plunged to a record low on trading platform EBS of 1.0605 francs, then traded flat at 1.0700."The dollar, the Swissy and the yen are being bought today and that's why we're seeing relatively less volatility in those crosses," said Koji Fukaya, director of global foreign exchange research at Credit Suisse Securities in Tokyo."Dollar/yen isn't being sold most aggressively because the dollar is also supported by safe-haven demand, thus both the yen and the dollar are in the same basket, limiting the volatility between them."Still, at one point the dollar drifted to 77.051, below levels where Japanese authorities intervened heavily on August 4. and not far off the record low of 76.25 yen reached in mid-March. It was down 0.6 percent at 77.25 yen. From / Arabian Business News