Swiss Market Ends Notably Lower

Save for a few minutes at the start, the Switzerland market remained in negative territory on Tuesday as investors reacted to a slew of earnings updates, and looked ahead to some key economic data from the U.S.

The benchmark SMI ended down 137.40 points or 1.12% at 12,100.57, slightly off the day’s low of 12,098.69.

Straumann Holding tumbled 7.4%. SIG Group drifted down 4.4% and Novartis lost about 4.1% despite reporting higher earnings. Novartis reported a net income of $3.19 billion for the third-quarter, up from $1.51 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Lindt & Spruengli closed down 3.12% and Sonova lost nearly 2.5%.

Sandoz Group declined 2.05%, while Adecco, Nestle and Sika lost 1.6 to 1.7%. Lonza Group, Partners Group, ABB, Geberit, Zurich Insurance and Julius Baer also closed weak.

Baloise Holdings lost nearly 4%. The company announced that it has agreed to sell its digital insurer Friday’s portfolios in Germany and France to Allianz for an undisclosed amount.

UBS Group climbed nearly 1.5%. Schindler Ps and Logitech International both gained about 1.35%. VAT Group closed up 0.73%.