Swiss Market Ends Lower Again

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market ended notably lower on Thursday after languishing in negative territory right through the day's session.

Lingering concerns about economic slowdown, and Fitch's decision to downgrade the credit rating of the U.S. to AA+ from AAA continued to weigh on stocks.

The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 125.52 points or 1.12% at 11,087.18, after dropping to a low of 11,060.74.

On the economic front, Switzerland's consumer price inflation eased for the fifth straight month in July to the lowest level in one-and-a-half years, the Federal Statistical Office reported today.

The consumer price index, or CPI, climbed 1.6% year-over-year in July, slightly slower than the 1.7% gain in June. That was in line with economists' expectations.

This was the weakest rate of increase since January last year, when prices had risen the same 1.6%.

Among the prominent losers, Swisscom dropped 4.52%. Novartis and Nestle ended lower by 1.87% and 1.81%, respectively.

Lonza Group drifted down 1.57% and ABB ended 1.47% down. Roche Holding, Givaudan, Alcon, Kuehne & Nagel, Sika and Zurich Insurance Group also ended notably lower.

UBS Group gained about 0.75%. Swiss Re advanced 0.54% and Logitech ended 0.2% up.

Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Meyer Burger Tech and Barry Callebaut lost 2.35% and 2.27%, respectively.

Ems Chemie Holding, Schindler Holding, Georg Fischer, AMS, Tecan Group, Clariant, Schindler Ps and Belimo Holding lost 1.2 to 1.7%.

Adecco rallied more than 6.5% after second quarter revenues slightly beat forecasts.

DocMorris gained about 1.25% and Flughafen Zurich advanced nearly 1%. Straumann Holding and SIG Combibloc posted modest gains.