Swiss Stocks Pare Gains In Late Afternoon Trade; SMI Ends Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - Despite staying positive till mid afternoon, the Switzerland stock market ended weak on Monday as several stocks came off higher levels and even slipped into the red in the final hour.

Data showing Swiss inflation dropping to the lowest level in more than a year helped lift sentiment earlier in the day.

The benchmark SMI, which climbed to 11,487.82 around mid morning, ended the day's session at 11,415.00, recording a loss of 28.35 points or 0.25%.

Sonova, Lonza Group and Givaudan ended lower by 1.71%, 1.67% and 1.51%, respectively. Partners Group ended 1.1% down.

Swiss Re, Swiss Life Holding and Geberit ended nearly 1% down. Nestle drifted down 0.75%, while Richemont shed 0.55%.

Novartis moved up 1.1%. Holcim ended higher by 0.42%.

Credit Suisse and UBS Group gained 1.1% and 0.28%, respectively.

In the Mid Price Index, Barry Callebaut fell 3.64% and Bachem Holding ended 3.17% down. AMS declined 2.8%.

Flughafen Zurich, Helvetia, Kuehne & Nagel and Lindt & Spruengli lost 1.6 to 2%. Clariant, Schindler HOlding, Dufty and DocMorris also ended notably lower.

Data from the Federal Statistical Office showed Switzerland's consumer price inflation eased as expected in May to the lowest level in more than a year amid a slowdown in prices for a broad number of categories.

The consumer price index, or CPI, climbed 2.2% year-over-year in May, slower than the 2.6% gain in April.

Overall inflation was largely driven by a 5.3% rise in prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages, though slightly slower than the 5.4% increase in April.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices moved up 0.3% in May after remaining flat in the previous month.

Data showed that core inflation slowed to 1.9% from 2.2%. The monthly outcome was an increase of 0.2% in May.