ZURICH, Feb 11 - Swiss money rates ticked up slightly on Wednesday as dealers look ahead to U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's testimony to Congress for clues on the Fed's stance on interest rate levels. Overnight and tomorrow/next rates stood at 0.15/0.20 percent, dealers said, slightly up from Tuesday's levels as some banks sought more liquidity. "Ahead of the testimony by Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan in front of the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday the price action along the Swiss franc yield curve can be best described as `lacklustre'," UBS said in a note. The Fed chief delivers his two-part semi-annual monetary policy testimony to the House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee at 1600 GMT, and to the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.
Dealers are hoping Greenspan's comments will provide clues about the meaning of a recent change in wording on the timing of any potential U.S. rate rise, which sparked speculation of an earlier-than-expected hike. The Swiss National Bank has said it is not in a hurry to raise interest rates from record lows, waiting instead for clear signs an economic recovery is taking root. EuroSwiss futures point to three-month market rates of around 0.27 percent by end-March and 0.39 percent by mid-year . The SNB targets the lower end of its benchmark target band of 0.00-0.75 percent for three-month LIBOR, or effectively 0.25 percent. It has held its repo rate steady at 0.11 percent since last April. The SNB said Swiss sight deposits, a key measure of money market liquidity, fell to 4.35 billion francs in the reporting period to February 10. Three-month Libor was fixed at 0.24000 percent on Tuesday, unchanged from Monday.//www..com