Forex positions help Swiss National Bank to nine-month profit
ZURICH (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank on Friday reported a nine-month consolidated profit of 28.5 billion Swiss francs (18.53 billion pounds), largely due to a rise in its foreign exchange positions.
Income from the central bank's forex positions amounted to 25.2 billion francs, while the value of its gold reserves rose to 3.3 billion francs.
The SNB set a cap of 1.20 Swiss francs to the euro three years ago to help stave off recession and the threat of deflation.
Its balance sheet increased by 31.7 billion francs to 522 billion francs at the end of September versus the end of December 2013.
The SNB said euro-denominated assets made up 45 percent of its portfolio at the end of September, down from 46 percent at the end of June, while 29 percent was held in dollars, up from 27 percent at the end of the second quarter, and 9 percent in yen, unchanged from the previous quarter.
(Reporting by Caroline Copley and Joshua Franklin; Editing by Sunil Nair)
