LONDON, Sept 25 Reuters The Swiss National Bank is done with interest rate hikes, according to the vast majority of economists polled by Reuters, despite mooting the prospect of further increases last week when it surprised markets by leaving borrowing costs unchanged.

On Sept. 21 the SNB held its policy interest rate unchanged at 1.75, noting inflation at 1.6 in August and within the central bank39;s target range of 02 had ebbed lower, but said further tightening could not be ruled out.

Economists thought this was unlikely.

An overwhelming 24 of 26 surveyed after Thursday39;s announcement predicted no more increases in the current cycle, leaving the SNB in step with the European Central Bank, which a separate Reuters poll suggested was also finished with hikes.

The SNB39;s decision to keep rates unchanged at 1.75 was a big surprise, although it left the door open for further hikes. We do not expect any further increases in the policy rate as we expect inflation to fall next year, said Adrian Prettejohn at Capital Economics.

With inflation easing and the economy weakening, we expect that the SNB is internally more dovish than it is letting on.

After last week39;s meeting, SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan kept the door ajar for further hikes, saying there is still an existing inflationary pressure, and we do not exactly know whether this inflationary pressure will increase again.

The first cut is not expected until the fourth quarter next year, the median of a smaller…