Swiss franc farce may be gold price tipping point

But the SNB's surprise announcement that it's ending its cornerstone monetary policy in place since September 2011 – pegging the franc against the euro at 1.20 – may now be doing more for the prospects of the metal than a yes vote in the poll would have.

Switzerland was late coming off the gold standard and as recently as 1999 its constitution required the franc to be 40% backed by gold. Then, in the years following the scrapping of the provision, the SNB went on a selling spree.

The bank sold an average of one tonne of gold each day for five years – at prices ranging from $300 an ounce to $500 an ounce.

Since instituting the franc-euro peg which compelled the SNB to buy euros on the open market to stop the franc from appreciating, Switzerland's foreign reserves ballooned by 60% reaching half a trillion francs (at today's rate $570 billion).

Read More: www.mining.com/swiss-franc-farce-may-be-gold-price-tipping-point-89548/