07:00 AM EDT, 05/14/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The Swiss franc outperformed other major currencies in early European trade on Tuesday while the US dollar pairs were mixed ahead of the eagerly anticipated US producer price index report due out later in the session.

Switzerland's franc was the outperformer in the G10 group after USD/CHF ebbed 0.04% to 0.9077 against a backdrop of mild risk aversion in Europe where equity markets were mostly lower and government bond markets were bid higher.

The Swiss currency's resilience came as Federal Statistical Office data showed producer and import prices rose faster than was expected for April. Producer and import prices rose 0.6% last month, adding to a 0.1% increase from March, which was ahead of the consensus for an increase of 0.2%.

Europe's single currency and the New Zealand dollar were also resilient in the face of an otherwise stronger US dollar, while British pound sterling and the Japanese yen were the major currency underperformers heading into the European lunch hour. Market attention now turns to the 8:30 am ET release of producer price index figures in the United States.

A quick summary of foreign exchange activity heading into the European lunch hour and North American open;

EUR/USD was quoted 0.02% higher at 1.0794 after gaining from intraday lows around 1.0774 after Germany's ZEW Institute said its measures of current economic conditions and sentiment toward the economic outlook had improved in May. The ZEW Economic Sentiment Index for Europe rose to 47 from 43.9 when it had expected an increase to only 46.1.

Meanwhile, the current conditions and economic sentiment indexes for Germany also improved with the better condition of the eurozone and Chinese economies both cited as driving the increase. Local market attention now turns to an 8:45 am ET speech by European Central Bank executive board member Isabel Schnabel.

Elsewhere in Europe GBP/USD was quoted 0.10% lower at 1.2548 after recovering from intraday lows around 1.2508 set when the Office for National Statistics said that rising welfare claims had lifted the unemployment rate to 4.3% in April, from 4.2% previously. The report has limited implications for Bank of England interest rate policy, however, because the level of private sector wage growth remained elevated and unchanged at 5.7% in the three months to the end of April.

In Asia, USD/JPY was quoted 0.09% higher at 156.36 after rising from overnight lows around 156.27 as the Japanese yen appeared to overlook government data showing producer prices rising 0.3% sequentially in April and 0.9% annually. Rising producer prices are likely to be of limited consequence to the Bank of Japan, which is concentrating on fostering a "virtuous cycle" between wage growth and overall inflation in the hope of attaining its long-elusive target of 2% inflation.

In North America, USD/CAD was quoted 0.02% higher at 1.3669 after falling from overnight highs around 1.3684 despite the upward trend of many US dollar exchange rates over the period. Local market attention now turns to the 8:30 am ET release of new motor vehicle sales figures and wholesale sales data by Statistics Canada. The Canadian dollar is also likely to be sensitive to the release of US producer price index figures around the same time.