By Paul Dobson March 12 (Bloomberg) -- The Swiss franc strengthened to less than 1.46 per euro for the first time in more than a year, a day after the Swiss central bank said it will act to prevent “an excessive appreciation” of its currency. The franc headed for its biggest weekly advance against the dollar since Oct. 16. The Swiss National Bank said yesterday it will “act decisively to prevent an excessive appreciation of the Swiss franc against the euro” to avoid an “undesired tightening of monetary conditions.” It kept its three-month Libor target rate unchanged at 0.25 percent. “What they want is an orderly movement in the currency,” said David Bloom, global head of currency strategy at HSBC Treasury & Capital Markets in London. “We keep breaking these levels. It’s very difficult to stop when the momentum is there. We’re not going to get a sharp move, it’s grinding lower.” The Swiss currency traded 0.2 percent stronger against the euro at 1.4583 as of 3:25 p.m. in London. It last traded at less than 1.46 on March 10, 2009. The franc appreciated 0.6 percent versus the dollar to 1.0618, up 1.2 percent in the week. --Editors: Daniel Tilles, Keith Campbell To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Dobson in London at pdobson2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Justin Carrigan at jcarrigan@bloomberg.net Related Articles

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