USD/CHF keeps red below 1.0300 handle ahead of Fed minutes

After yesterday's sharp up-swing to three-week peak and a subsequent retracement, the USD/CHF pair traded with mild weakness below 1.0300 handle and is now headed back to the lower end of daily trading range. 

Currently trading just above mid-1.0200s, the US Dollar pull-back from Wednesday's 14-year high has been the key factor weighing on the major. Adding to this, bearish trading sentiment surrounding European equities is further diverting some safe-haven flows towards the Swiss Franc and is also contributing to the pair offered tone on Wednesday. 

Investors on Wednesday keenly await for the minutes from the Fed's most recent meeting on December 13-14, which would provide fresh insight over the pact of interest-rate hikes in 2017 and might trigger the next leg of directional move for the major. 

Technical levels to watch

A follow through selling pressure below 1.0250-45 area (session low) seems to drag the pair back towards 1.0220 horizontal support, which if broken would expose sub-1.0200 level support near 1.0175 level. On the upside, momentum above 1.0285 immediate hurdle now seems to confront resistance near 1.0300 handle above which a fresh bout of buying interest is likely to lift the pair back towards 1.0335 (yesterday's high) en-route multi-year highs resistance near 1.0344 (Dec. 15 high).