Swiss voters easily defeated a referendum that would have required the Swiss National Bank hold 20% of its reserves in gold. Early projections from Swiss broadcaster SRF show 78% of voters rejecting the change.
Two separate proposals that would have curbed immigration and closed a tax loophole for foreigners were also easily defeated, according to projections.
Gold bugs were optimistic about the vote in early November but in the past two weeks hopes began to dim. On Friday, gold fell $24 to 1167 — the lowest since Nov 14.
Gold daily chart
The vote was also a threat for the Swiss National Bank’s EUR/CHF peg. Had is succeeded, the vote would have made maintaining the 1.20 floor much more costly.
Late in Friday trading, the sense was that a failure was priced in but we won’t know for sure until markets re-open.
