USD/CHF sits at 4-month tops in pre-NFP trade

The USD/CHF pair edged higher through mid-European session on Friday but seemed struggling to build on its up-move beyond the 0.9800 handle. 

The pair traded with positive bias for the third consecutive session and touched over 4-month highs amid prevalent bullish bias around the US Dollar, which remained underpinned on growing prospects of higher US interest rates and hopes for progress over the US tax reforms.

However, the Catalonian crisis seemed weighing on investors' sentiment and was seen lending some support to the Swiss Franc's safe-haven appeal, thus capping further up-move for the major.

Moreover, investors also refrained from placing aggressive bets ahead of today's key event risk - the release of US monthly jobs data. Today's NFP report is unlikely to alter the Fed's gradual monetary policy tightening path, but would influence near-term USD price-dynamics and eventually provide some fresh impetus.

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Technical levels to watch

A convincing break through the 0.9800 handle, the pair is likely to dart towards the very important 200-day SMA hurdle near the 0.9835-40 region ahead of 0.9875-80 hurdle. 

On the downside, 0.9780 level is likely to act as immediate support, which if broken could drag the pair back towards 0.9730 intermediate support en-route the 0.9700 handle.