USD/CHF climbs to 0.99 area as US Dollar Index retakes 96
- US Dollar Index gathers traction in the last couple of hours.
- Wall Street is set to open modestly higher.
- Coming up: Import/export price index data from the U.S. and Fed's Beige Book.
With the greenback gathering strength ahead of the NA session, the USD/CHF broke out of its daily trading and range and refreshed its highest level since January 4 at 0.9902. As of writing, the pair was up 0.19% on the day at 0.9896.
Hopes of British PM May negotiating a better Brexit deal with the EU after getting voted down in the Parliament yesterday and reaffirming her position at tonight's leadership challenge helped the market sentiment improve today and made it difficult for safe-havens to find demand. However, major European equity indices struggled to gain traction to show that markets still have their doubts about the final outcome.
On the other hand, after closing the previous day near the 96 handle, the US Dollar Index pushed higher ahead of today's macroeconomic data releases from the U.S. to fuel the pair's advance. While markets are waiting for the import/export price data and the Fed's Beige Book later in the session, the DXY is up 0.12% on the day at 96.08.
Technical levels to consider
The immediate resistance for the pair aligns at 0.9910 (50-DMA) ahead of 0.9960 (Dec. 26 high) and 1.0000 (psychological level). On the downside, supports could be seen at 0.9870 (daily low), 0.9845 (20-DMA) and 0.9800 (Jan. 15 low). Meanwhile, the RSI indicator on the daily chart recently rose above 50, suggesting that buyers are trying to take control of the price action.