Swiss Franc Strengthens to 1.50 per Euro First Time Since March

y Lukanyo Mnyanda and Klaus Wille
Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The Swiss franc strengthened beyond 1.50 per euro for the first time since March, when the nation’s central bank first sold the currency to weaken it.
The franc climbed as much 0.7 percent to 1.4909 against the euro, before trading at 1.4972 as of 7:49 a.m. in Zurich. It appreciated as much as 0.6 percent yesterday to 1.5008 per euro.
Nicolas Haymoz, a Swiss National Bank spokesman in Zurich, said "we don’t comment on movements in the Swiss franc."
The SNB’s failure to act yesterday "gave the idea to the market that maybe the SNB doesn’t care anymore," said Lutz Karpowitz, a currency strategist in Frankfurt at Commerzbank AG, Germany’s second-biggest lender. "It would be a risky game to bet on more franc strength. If they stopped intervening, that would bring the euro-franc to levels they cannot accept."
Against the dollar, the Swiss currency appreciated 0.6 percent to 1.0411.
The SNB began selling the franc in March in a bid to ward off deflation and combat the economic slump. Central bank President Jean-Pierre Roth, who steps down at the end of December, said on Nov. 24 that central banks may "soon" start withdrawing unconventional measures as the global economic recovery gathers pace.
The franc weakened on Nov. 26 as the SNB sold the currency, traders said, after reaching the strongest level in five months against the euro and climbing to parity with the dollar for the first time in 19 months the day before.

In my opinion, the SNB can't afford a strong CHF and are likely to intervene. This year I managed to make decent profits on a few jumps of the EURCHF as the SNB supported the Franc's weakness.
We might have an opportunity next time they speak, to be monitored closely next year.