Swiss Market Ends Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - After edging up slightly at the start, the Switzerland market slipped and languished in negative territory right through the trading session on Thursday, as worries about geopolitical tensions and some weak euro area economic data rendered the mood bearish.

The benchmark SMI ended down 109.77 points or 0.91% at 12,012.32, off the session's nearly 40 points off the day's low of 11,973.06.

Sika ended nearly 4% down. Geberit closed lower by about 2.1% and Richemont lost nearly 2%. Roche Holding, Straumann Holding, Kuehne + Nagel, Nestle and Logitech International closed lower by 1.1 to 1.7%.

Givaudan, Schindler Ps, Julius Baer, Partners Group, VAT Group, ABB, Swisscom, Swatch Group and Zurich Insurance ended down 0.6 to 1%.

Sonova climbed about 3.1%. Sandoz Group ended up 2.05%. SGS closed up 0.55%, while Novartis, SIG Group and Lonza Group edged up marginally.

In economic news, Switzerland's consumer price inflation eased unexpectedly in September to the lowest level in more than three years, the Federal Statistical Office reported Thursday.

The consumer price index rose 0.8% on a yearly basis in September, slower than the 1.1% rise in August. Meanwhile, economists had expected the inflation to remain stable at 1.1%. On a monthly basis, consumer prices dropped 0.3 percent in September after remaining stagnant in the previous month. The expected fall was 0.1%.