Wall Street closes at a record for the first time since end of January
By John Revill
ZURICH, March 19 (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank kept its policy rate on hold on Thursday in the face of a surge in the value of the Swiss franc driven by the Iran war, which also led to a spike in global oil prices, blurring the inflation outlook.
The SNB maintained its policy rate at 0%, the lowest among major central banks, as expected by a wide majority of analysts polled by Reuters.
The decision came on a busy day for central banks, after the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept rates unchanged, highlighting unusually high uncertainty as policymakers take stock of the impact of the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran.
"Given the conflict in the Middle East, the SNB’s willingness to intervene in the foreign exchange market has increased," the SNB said in a statement.
"The SNB thereby counters a rapid and excessive appreciation of the Swiss franc, which would jeopardise price stability in Switzerland," the central bank said.
The franc weakened briefly after the decision, but soon recovered to trade a touch higher against the euro and dollar, at 0.9082 francs and 0.793 francs, respectively.
The European Central Bank, the Bank of England and Sweden’s central bank are due to give their latest updates on Thursday, with markets expecting no change in their interest rates.