Swiss Market Ends Modestly Lower
(RTTNews) - Save for a few minutes at the start, the Switzerland market languished in negative territory on Monday amid worries about the outlook for global economic growth after recent weak data from China and the U.S. rendered the mood cautious.
Weak Swiss consumer confidence data, and the potential impact of tariffs from the Trump Administration weighed as well.
The benchmark SMI ended down 63.23 points or 0.48% at 13,013.45. The index, which advanced to 13,111.29 at the start, touched a low of 12,984.08 in the session.
Sandoz Group shares tumbled 6%. Richemont, Lonza Group, UBS Group and Julius Baer ended lower by 3 to 4%. Logitech International, Partners Group, ABB and Holcim lost 2 to 2.6%.
VAT Group, Sika, SGS and Swiss Life Holding also closed notably lower.
Kuehne + Nagel rallied 4.7%. Swisscom ended higher by 2.02%, while Givaudan, Zurich Insurance Group, Lindt & Spruengli and Geberit gained 1 to 1.5%.
Schindler Ps, Nestle, Swiss Re, Sonova and Novartis also closed on positive note.
On the economic front, Swiss consumer confidence decreased for the first time in three months in February, monthly survey results from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, showed.
The consumer sentiment index dropped to -33.6 in February from -29.3 in the previous month. The expected score was -28.0.
Nonetheless, the index improved from the previous year's reading of -42.3.
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