Swiss Market Ends Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - Swiss stocks fell sharply on Thursday as growth worries, interest rate concerns and geopolitical tensions rendered the mood bearish.

The benchmark SMI ended with a sharp loss of 227.21 points or 2.13% at 10,448.23. The index dropped to a low of 10,426.05.

Roche Holding dropped 4.4%. Nestle ended down 3.4% after the Swiss consumer giant posted lower-than-expected nine-month sales growth.

Novartis and Partners Group both ended lower by 2.75%. UBS Group, Alcon, Logitech, Kuehne & Nagel and Swiss Life Holding lost 1 to 1.4%.

ABB, Swisscom, Zurich Insurance Group, Lonza Group and Sonova ended lower by 0.6 to 1%.

Richemont and Sika gained about 0.9%. Swiss Re and Givaudan ended flat.

In the Mid Price Index, Clariant drifted down 5.5%. Adecco ended nearly 4% down. Dufry, SIG Combibloc, Sandoz, Straumann Holding, Meyer Burger Tech, Julius Baer and Barry Callebaut ended lower by 1.5 to 2.6%.

Schindler Ps climbed 3.31%. Schindler Holding surged 2.76% and Swatch Group gained 1.86%. Tecan Group ended 0.7% up.

On the economic front, Switzerland's trade surplus surged in the third quarter on recovering exports, data from the Federal Customs Administration showed.

The trade balance registered a surplus of CHF 10.54 billion, which was above CHF 9.49 billion logged in the second quarter. In the same period last year, the surplus was CHF 8.26 billion.

In real terms, exports rebounded 0.8%, following a 1.6% drop a quarter ago. At the same time, the decline in imports softened to 0.6% from 3.2%.

In September, the trade surplus rose to CHF 5.03 billion from CHF 3.13 billion in August, data showed.