Swiss Market Ends Marginally Down After Cautious Session

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market started off on a positive note on Monday but slipped into the red soon thereafter, and despite emerging above the flat line around mid afternoon, fell again and ended the day's session marginally down.

The mood remained cautious with investors awaiting monetary policy announcements from the Swiss National Bank and European Central Bank.

The benchmark SMI, which advanced to 11,829.09 in early trades, dropped to a low of 11,761.72 before eventually closing at 11,761.72 with a loss of 18.93 points or 0.16%.

Holcim ended down 1.55%. Givaudan and Sandoz Group lost 1.17% and 1.12%, respectively. Lonza Group, Swisscom, Novartis, Zurich Insurance Group, Partners Group, Schindler Ps and UBS Group closed lower by 0.3 to 0.7%.

Among the gainers, Swatch Group rallied about 2.7%. Richemont climbed 2.06%. Adecco and Straumann Holding gained 1.75% and 1.51%, respectively. Julius Baer climbed 0.89% and Sika closed up 0.81%.

Data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said Switzerland's consumer confidence rose to -37.2 in November, improving from -48 in the same month a year earlier.