Swiss Market Ends Notably Lower

The Switzerland stock market, which emerged briefly into positive territory around mid morning after a weak start on Tuesday, kept edging lower and lower as the day progressed and eventually ended the session on a very weak note.

Concerns about inflation, the outlook for interest rates and the pace of economic recovery weighed on the market.

The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 100.28 points or 0.92% at 10,763.37, after dropping to a low of 10,743.60.

Partners Group ended 3.3% down. Holcim declined 2.6% and UBS Group ended nearly 2% down.

Novartis, Alcon, Lonza Group and Richemont lost 1 to 1.6%. Givaudan and ABB, both ended nearly 1% down. Sonova and Roche Holding also closed notably lower.

Geberit, the lone gainer in the SMI index, ended nearly 1.5% up.

Among the stocks in the Swiss Mid Price Index, only Adecco and Tecan Group closed on the positive side. The stocks gained about 0.6% and 0.4%, respectively.

Meyer Burger Tech plunged 13.3%. AMS tumbled nearly 7%, and Dufry ended lower by about 5.2%.

Julius Baer, Flughafen Zurich, Baloise Holding, SIG Combibloc, Bachem Holding, Helvetia and Georg Fischer closed lower by 1.4 to 2.3%.

Data released by the Federal Statistical Office showed annual inflation rate in Switzerland rose to a three-month high of 1.7% in September of 2023 from 1.6% in the previous month.

Meanwhile, the core rate, which excludes volatile items such as unprocessed food and energy, slowed to 1.3% from a prior 1.5%.