Swiss Market Ends Lower For 5th Straight Day

(RTTNews) - Swiss stocks fell sharply on Wednesday, tracking weakness in global markets amid an escalation in tensions in the Middle East, and lingering worries about inflation and slowing growth.

The benchmark SMI ended lower by 138.58 points or 1.28% at 10,675.44, extending losses to a fifth straight session.

ABB tumbled 6.5% after the engineering group flagged a slowdown in revenue growth in Q4 and reported a continued decline in orders in China.

Lonza Group ended lower by about 3.5%, extending losses from the previous session. Geberit ended 3.25% down.

Sika, UBS Group, Kuehne & Nagel, Alcom, Holcim and Partners Group lost 2 to 2.7%. Logitech and Roche Holding also declined sharply.

In the Mid Price Index, VAT Group drifted down 4.53%. Sandoz, Tecan Group, Meyer Burger Tech, Julius Baer, AMS, Georg Fischer, Schindler Ps, Belimo Holding and SIG Combibloc ended lower by 2 to 3.4%.