TABLE-Swiss sight deposits lower

ZURICH, Dec 10 (Reuters) - The amount of cash commercial
banks hold with the Swiss National Bank fell slightly last week
versus the previous week, data showed on Monday.
The level is partly a measure of how inclined banks are to
find an ultra-safe home for their money and may also reflect
efforts by the SNB to defend the 1.20 per euro cap it imposed on
Sept. 6, 2011 on the soaring safe-haven Swiss franc.

Sight deposits of domestic banks:
Week ending Amount in Sfr millions
December 7 292 764
November 30 293 104
November 23 294 559
November 16 292 700
November 9 291 522
November 2 290 679
October 26 293 309
October 19 292 163
October 12 293 142
October 5 291 041
September 28 291 245
September 21 292 305
September 14 294 152
September 7 291 114
August 31 288 959
August 24 286 375
August 17 280 585
August 10 277 537
August 3 277 299
July 27 270 923
July 20 261 399
July 13 249 281
July 6 245 161
June 29 237 835
June 22 227 955
June 15 212 508
June 8 194 607
June 1 185 408
May 25 170 071
May 18 155 850
May 11 150 900
May 4 153 604

Sight deposits are the accounts of commercial banks with the
central bank, and constitute a large part of the liquidity in
the banking system. They are seen as an early proxy for how much
the SNB is having to spend to defend the franc cap.
As part of its efforts to weaken the franc, the SNB began
flooding the money market with cash last August and raised total
sight deposits to 200 billion francs, before capping the franc
against the euro a month later.
The SNB's tools for expanding sight deposits are foreign
exchange swaps and repurchases of its own debt.

(Reporting By Katharina Bart)