Swiss Market Fails To Hold Early Gains, Ends On Weak Note

(RTTNews) - After opening modestly higher and holding in positive territory till noon, Swiss stocks drifted down into the red and stayed weak till the end of the session on Wednesday as investors turned cautious and took some profits, cashing recent gains.

Worries about inflation, slowing growth and looming interest rate hikes weighed on the market.

The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 62.59 points or 0.56% at 11,059.49, slightly off the day's low of 11,052.95. The index advanced to 11,188.31 in early trades.

Among the prominent losers, Nestle drifted down 1.75%, while Novartis, Zurich Insurance Group and Swiss Re shed 1 to 1.25%.

Holcim, Roche Holding, Swisscom and Credit Suisse ended lower by 0.4 to 0.7%.

Partners Group surged 2.3%, while Logitech, SGS and Sika gained 1.6 to 1.8%. Geberit advanced nearly 1%, Lonza Group gained 0.87% and ABB ended 0.74% up.

In the Mid Price Index, Baloise Holding, Dufry, Helvetia, Flughafen Zurich, Adecco and Sonova lost 0.5 to 1.6%.

Georg Fischer climbed more than 7.5%. Bachem Holding gained 2.85% and AMS surged 2%. VAT Group and Kuehne & Nagel also ended notably higher.