Swiss National Bank posts H1 loss of 15.3 billion francs as dollar weakness weighs

By John Revill

ZURICH (Reuters) -The Swiss National Bank on Thursday reported a loss of 15.3 billion Swiss francs ($18.83 billion) for the first half of the year as the weakening dollar took a big bite out of the value of the central bank's U.S investments.

The SNB made a loss of 22.7 billion francs on its foreign currency positions during in the six months to the end of June, as the dollar's slide wiped out price gains and payments when translated back to francs.

The results showed how the results of the SNB, with 727 billion francs in foreign currency stocks and bonds, are extremely sensitive to currency movements.

During the first half of the year the dollar, in which the SNB holds 37% of its forex reserves, fell roughly 12% versus the franc on concerns about U.S. debt and President Donald Trump's unpredictable trade policies.

A valuation gain of 8.6 billion Swiss francs on the central bank's gold holdings narrowed the loss, as the precious metal increased in value by 11% during the year.

The overall loss was in line with UBS estimates for a first-half loss of 10 to 20 billion francs.

"The loss illustrates how damaging the depreciation of the dollar is for the SNB's profits and loss and it will now be very difficult for the SNB to make a profit this year," said UBS economist Alessandro Bee.

($1 = 0.8125 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by John Revill, editing by Miranda Murray and Rachel More)