Swiss Market Ends Marginally Down
(RTTNews) - Save for a very brief while at the start, the Switzerland market stayed weak on Tuesday as investors refrained from making significant moves, choosing to wait for directional clues.
Investors awaited the outcome of the high-level trade discussions between U.S. and Chinese officials in London.
The benchmark SMI, which dropped to 12,285.63 around mid morning, settled at 12,351.89, down 14.28 points or 0.12%.
UBS Group drifted down nearly 5%. Swiss Re closed 1.55% down. Sandoz Group, Zurich Insurance Group and Swiss Life Holding lost 1.2 to 1.3%.
Swisscom ended 0.88% down, and Nestle closed lower by 0.73%. Schindler Ps and SGS ended with modest losses.
Adecco rallied nearly 6.25%. VAT Group gained 3.78% and Straumann Holding closed 3.28% up.
Swatch Group, Holcim, Richemont, Alcon, Logitech International, Sika, Sonova, ABB and Lindt & Spruengli gained 0.9 to 2%.
On the economic front, Swiss consumers remained less pessimistic in May as the confidence index improved from a 16-month low in April, monthly survey results from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, showed.
The consumer sentiment index rose to -37.0 in May from -42.0 in the previous month. Meanwhile, the index also rose marginally from the previous year's reading of -38.0.
Among the four components, the sub-indices past financial situation, expected financial situation, and timing for major purchases were above their previous year's levels, while the sub-index for expected economic development was lower than a year ago.
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