Swiss Market Falters After Steady Start, Ends Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - Despite opening on a steady note and holding in positive territory till noon on Tuesday, the Switzerland stock market turned weak and spent the rest of the session in the red with investors largely staying wary of making significant moves.

The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 38.15 points or 0.31% at 12,155.66. The index, which advanced to 12,256.56 around mid morning, touched a low of 12,131.52 later on in the session.

Givaudan and Sika both ended nearly 3% down. Geberit shed about 2.1%, Partners Group declined 1.8% and Lonza Group slid 1.6%. Nestle and SGS both closed lower by about 1%. Novartis edged down 0.2%.

UBS Group and Credit Suisse both gained more than 1.5%. Swiss Life Holding advanced 1.03%, while Swisscom, Swiss Re, ABB and Holcim gained 0.5 to 0.65%.

Among the stocks in the Swiss Mid Price Index, Tecan Group Straumann Holding, Sonova, Ems Chemie Holding and VAT Group shed 2.7 to 3.2%.

Lindt & Spruengli Part, Kuehne & Nagel, Clariant and Zur Rose lost 2 to 2.4%. Swiss Prime Site, PSP Swiss Property, Schindler Holding, Schindler Ps and Temenos Group also ended notably lower.

AMS OSRAM surged up more than 9% after delivering healthy full-year and fourth-quarter results. Dufry gained 4.1% and Flughafen Zurich climbed 3.4%, while Julius Baer, Adecco and Helvetia gained 1.6 to 2%.