As predicted by the opinion polls, the main winner in the weekend's federal elections was the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) which increased its share of the vote from 25.6 percent to 28.6 percent. By contrast, the Green Party lost nearly 4 percentage points in falling to 9.4 percent. The results give the SVP 62 of the 200 seats in the House of Representatives ahead of the Social Democrats on 41, the Centre Party on 29 and the Radical Liberals on 28. The Greens ended up with 23 seats and the Liberal Democrats just 10.

With some cantons not producing absolute majorities, the composition of the 46 seat Senate will not be known until a second vote is held in November.

The results clearly show a shift to the right, in line with the pattern seen recently in a number of other European countries. However, any impact from Sunday's election is likely to be only minor as there is still no party with an overall majority. The composition of the new government is likely to be little changed.

As such, the safe haven mantle long worn by the Swiss franc should be unaffected which, following the ongoing geopolitical instability in the Middle East, should make for a strong near-term outlook.

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