Swiss Market Fails To Hold Gains, Ends Modestly Lower

The Swiss market recovered after opening weak on Monday, but slipped around early afternoon and then spent the rest of the day’s session in negative territory to eventually close modestly lower.

The mood was largely cautious with investors looking ahead to policy meetings of the U.S. Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan.

The benchmark SMI, which climbed to 11,238.62, ended with a loss of 29.70 points or 0.27% at 11,177.68.

Lonza Group and Holcim ended lower by 1.1% and 1%, respectively. Alcon, Richemont, Kuehne & Nagel, Novartis, Geberit, Zurich Insurance Group and Roche Holding lost 0.4 to 0.7%.

Givaudan and UBS Group both gained about 0.85%. ABB, Swisscom and Partners Group posted modest gains.

In the Mid Price Index, Meyer Burger Tech tumbled 8%. Schindler Ps and Schindler Holding ended lower by 2.45% and 2.3%, respectively.

Galenica Sante, Lindt & Spruengli, Tecan Group and DocMorris lost 1 to 1.5%.

Julius Baer rallied 8.4% after reporting strong earnings. The lender reported a jump in money inflows and hiring. The bank’s assets under management grow 4% to 441 billion Swiss francs ($509.6 billion) in the first half of this year, as it attracted 7.1 billion francs in new money from wealthy clients.

SGS gained about 5.1% and Belimo Holding climbed 4%, while AMS ended higher by nearly 3%.