The Swiss franc began trading on 1st January this year on 0.8545. While there were a few moments during the month where it fell into the 0.84 range, it ended in stronger fashion on 0.8597. It also managed to make the first day of February a good one, rising to 0.8618 as it did so. As it turned out, that was a sign of things to come, as it did not drop out of that territory for the entire month, closing things out on 0.8681.
However, March was not as good a month as we would have hoped, given the strong start we had seen thus far. While it remained in the 0.86 range for a week or so, it then dropped back to 0.85 territory for most of the rest of the month. We say most because by the 28th it had fallen further to 0.8473. By the end of the month it had recovered a little, but only enough to rise to 0.8489.
The euro then seemed to gain some power over the currency. With spring giving way to the summer months, we saw a new drop for the Swiss franc on 17th April. That was the day the euro pushed it back to 0.8397 – the lowest rate we had seen so far during the year. Of course, there was still a long way to go. However, a month would pass before the franc managed to get back above the 0.83 exchange rate, when it rose to 0.8480 on 16th May.
From then on it seemed to rise quite quickly. On the 21st it rose to 0.8508 before reaching 0.8622 by the 23rd. The end of the month brought better news as well, taking the Swiss franc to 0.8676 against the euro.
June and July saw the Swiss franc meander between the 0.85 and 0.86 exchange rates, giving us a mix of uncertainty and very little idea of what might happen next. It was difficult to work out how the franc might break the stalemate of sticking in that same range. However, on 10th August we got our answer, when the Swiss currency rose to a new high of 0.8778. Could it go higher? We waited just three days to learn the answer, when the franc closed out the markets on 0.8819.
Fast forward to September, and we have a new rate to celebrate – 0.8906 on the 21st of the month. Since then we have seen the exchange rate between the Swiss franc and the euro vary around the 0.87 and 0.88 mark. While we do not yet have data to prove how the year will end, the currency finished strongly on Wednesday 19th December, finishing on a rate of 0.8827 then. Far better than earlier in the year, and we see little opportunity for it to drop dramatically before the year is out. We have just 10 days or so left until that happens, after all.