Euro holds on to Asia gains as Swiss franc climbs against dollar

Euro managed to keep most of its Asian session gains with most regional economies showing better than expected manufacturing outlook, according to the Markit survey for March.

The Swiss franc moved off the eight-day low it hit in the previous session, also helped by the positive SVME purchasing managers survey for the manufacturing sector of the country.

USD/CHF slipped to 0.9680 from the previous close of 0.9726, moving further off the more than 1-week high of 0.9757 touched on Tuesday.

The pair had touched as low as 0.9490 on 26 March which was a 1-month high for the franc.

The SVME index rose to 47.9 for March from 47.3 for February while the market had been expecting a drop to 47.2.

EUR/USD has edged higher to 1.0793 from Tuesday's close of 1.0731. The pair had touched an 11-day low of 1.0713 in the previous session.

The Markit PMI for Italy came in at 53.3 from 51.9 beating consensus of 52.3. German as well as eurozone PMIs too remained in the expansion zone and exhibited improved outlook.

Germany's PMI stood at 52.8 for March from 51.1 in February when the consensus was 52.4. The index for EMU increased to 52.2 from 51.0 compared to the market consensus of 51.9.

Meanwhile, the French index rose to 48.8 from 47.6 compared to the expectations of 48.2. The other one in the contraction area was Greece, whose index rose to 48.9 from 48.4.