“Keizai Group” has called the move by Switzerland’s central bank, the SNB, to rein in the franc’s strength by pegging it to the euro at a target rate of 1.20 a “huge gamble”.

“They’ve pledged to buy up as much foreign currency as necessary to maintain the peg at a time when the deal to bailout Greece seems to be unraveling in slow motion,” said a senior equity analyst at “Keizai Group”.

He feels that, with German law courts ruling on the legality of the bailouts and several EU countries trying to negotiate bilateral side-deal with Greece before committing to the country’s last bailout, there is definite scope for further weakening in the euro.

A currency trader at “Keizai Group” said, “There is no question of the Euro zone debt crisis being anywhere near resolved and, as it worsens, more and more investors are going to be turning to the franc as a safe haven currency which, obviously, will test the SNB’s resolve to maintain the peg.”

Today’s move saw the Swiss franc fall up to 8.5% against the euro and a similar amount against the US dollar.