Swiss Market Ends Marginally Down

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market ended marginally down on Tuesday after languishing in negative territory right through the day's session, as investors refrained from making significant moves amid a lack of triggers.

The benchmark SMI ended down 18.93 points or 0.15% at 12,260.93 after moving between 12,197.46 and 12,271.34.

Straumann Holding and Swiss Re ended down 1.46% and 1.35%, respectively. Partners Group, Sonova and Zurich Insurance Group ended lower by 1.13%, 1.02% and 0.94%, respectively.

Logitech International, Nestle, Swiss Life Holding and Alcon also ended weak.

Shares of market expansion services company DKSH rallied about 8% after the firm reported an increase in first-half profit to 111.2 million francs from 103.4 million francs in the year-ago quarter. The company's net sales were 5.44 billion francs in the first-half, compared with 5.62 billion francs a year before.

Richemont advanced nearly 1%. The company said fiscal first-quarter total sales fell to 5.27 billion euros from 5.32 billion euros, due to weaker sales in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in China. The luxury goods company's Jewellery Maisons division delivered a 4% sales growth at constant exchange rates to 3.66 billion euros.

VAT Group climbed 1.66%, Geberit gained nearly 1.5% and Kuehne + Nagel ended 1.17% up, while Sika gained 0.65%.