Swiss Market Ends Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market opened on a weak note, and despite emerging into positive territory by late morning, fell into the red around mid afternoon and finally closed notably lower.

Worries about interest rate hikes increased after data from Labor Department showed a stronger than expected jobs growth in the world's largest economy in September.

The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 82.56 points or 0.79% at 10,308.57. The index, which climbed to 10,439.88 around noon, dropped to a low of 10,297.19 later on in the session.

Logitech ended 5.73% down. Partners Group declined 4%, Geberit ended 3.14% down, and Sonova lost nearly 3%.

ABB, Alcon, Givaudan, Richemont, Lonza Group, Sika and Swiss Re shed 1.6 to 2.1%.

Credit Suisse surged 5.36% after the embattled Swiss lender said it would buy back up to 3 billion Swiss francs ($3 billion) of senior debt securities.

In the Mid Price Index, AMS plunged 10.52%. VAT Group drifted down 6.45%, Straumann Holding ended 5.3% down, and Tecan Group lost 4.27%.

Kuehne & Nagel, Zur Rose, Adecco, Clariant, Schindler Holding, Schindler Ps, Georg Fischer and Ems Chemie Holding also declined sharply.

On the economic front, data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, showed Switzerland's unemployment rate declined marginally in September, falling to 1.9% in the month from 2% in August. Economists had expected the rate to remain unchanged at 2.0 percent.

In the same month last year, the jobless rate was 2.6%.

The youth unemployment rate, which is applied to the 15-24 age group, rose to 2.1% in September from 2% in August.

Data also showed that the seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 2.1% in September, same as seen in the previous month. This was in line with economists' expectations.