Georgette Boele and Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank: Voters yesterday rejected a referendum requiring the Swiss National Bank hold at least 20 percent of its 520-billion-franc $540 billion balance sheet in gold. Had it been approved, it would have led to purchases of at least 1,500 metric tons over five years. With lower oil prices reducing costs for consumers and the U.S. considering raising interest rates, demand is fading for hedges against inflation such as gold, according to Bloomberg. Gold had received some support in the last couple of weeks before the vote, Georgette Boele , an analyst at ABN Amro Bank NV in Amsterdam, said by phone. We ll get more pressure on gold. The overall outlook is not looking great. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/ As Switzerland rules out that its central bank will be the next big buyer of gold, sending prices to the lowest in more than three weeks, theres one more reason for investors to be bearish. Gold has lost 17 percent since peaking in March and investor holdings of exchange-traded products are near a five-year low. While prices probably wont be affected too much by the no vote of the initiative called Save Our Swiss Gold, approval would have improved sentiment and increased prices by as much as $50 an ounce, Holdings Plc estimated in November. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.