European leaders failed to reach an agreement on giving a banking license to the euro zone's permanent bailout fund, limiting its firepower.

Market participants had been eyeing the outcome of the summit, hoping decision-makers might come up with a viable scheme to prevent further trouble for countries such as Italy.

European stock index futures pointed to a lower open, due to market disappointment.

At 0732 GMT, the franc was 0.3 percent firmer against the euro compared with the New York close, trading at 1.2322. It was virtually flat against the dollar at 0.9266.

Before the EU summit news, the euro had come under pressure the previous day as the European Central Bank quashed hopes it would buy up more bonds of debt-laden euro zone states, a step some deem essential to containing the debt crisis.

"So far the market looks underwhelmed," said Geoffrey Yu of UBS. "We expect the euro to continue to slide."

The franc has been rangebound the euro since the SNB on Sept. 6 imposed a cap of 1.20 per euro after the soaring Swissie threatened to push the economy into recession.

The SNB holds its next policy review on Dec. 15, and some economists have speculated the SNB could announce a shift in its cap to 1.25 or 1.30 then.