Swiss Vote ‘No’ In Gold Referendum

The results of a much anticipated Swiss referendum are in – 78 percent of voters have rejected an initiative to raise the country’s gold reserves, according to Forbes. A ‘yes’ vote would have increased gold reserves to 20 percent of central bank assets.

The vote will come as a disappointment to many gold bugs, who had hopes that Switzerland’s “Save Our Swiss Gold” initiative would have given a boost to prices.

According to Forbes:

The referendum results are not surprising given earlier polls had predicted the “no” camp would win by a large margin, however the results have mitigated concerns that increased demand from the Swiss National Bank (SNB) could cause a spike in gold prices.

Analysts believed the “Save Our Swiss Gold” initiative could have challenged the SNB’s commitment to a three-year-old cap of 1.20 Swiss francs per euro. Such speculation has already pushed the franc to its highest level in more than two years.

Gold prices have also been affected by the prospects of the vote, though last week gold fell more than 1.5% following a poll which showed Swiss voters were unlikely to approve the measure.

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