In the first day of trading for Russian stocks in 2010, the national currency posted a sharp rise as equities in the country, extremely related to commodities, climbed with full force, as stock markets in the country were closed last week.

The Swiss currency had its previous week rally versus currencies like the pound and the euro halted today after the national central bank took a position against further advances of the franc, as the current appreciation was considered excessive by SNB officials.

The Canadian currency started another week strong versus several main traded currencies, specially lower yielding options, as demand for commodities continues to bring capital to Canada, the biggest oil supplier for the United States.

The United Kingdom has been showing itself as one of the least resilient nations among the wealthiest countries in the world, and its weak economic data combined with a ineffective monetary policy is likely to set the sterling further down in the first semester of 2010, specially versus higher-yielding options

The U.S. currency was performing quite well during most of this week’s session as optimism regarding the U.S. economy was high, but the employment data published on Friday forced the greenback down versus most of the main traded currencies, as figures came much below forecasts.

The Chilean peso outperformed most of the main traded currencies as a copper price rally boosted appeal for assets in Chile, which declined this Friday after the metallic commodities failed to extend their gains.

The Polish currency advanced today in foreign-exchange markets as Pimco speculates that 2010 will allow several emerging markets to outperform other investments, favoring the zloty in this Friday’s trading session.

The Canadian dollar returned to gain today as its chief export, the crude oil, rallied as demand for energy increases, favoring currencies with a similar profile in foreign-exchange markets as the Australian dollar, which is a main commodity supplier for China.

An employment report waited during all the week and released today frustrated analysts bringing weaker-than-expected figures for the U.S. economy, pulling the dollar down versus most of the 16 main traded currencies.

The krone fell today from the highest rate since September 2008 as the nation’s government finally expressed concern regarding the currency’s strength, halting a rally versus the euro that started in the end of 2009.