Swiss Market Ends Modestly Lower

The Switzerland market spent some time in positive territory Tuesday morning after a cautious start, but retreated soon, and save for a brief while in the final hour, spent the day’s session in the red, as concerns about global growth outlook and geopolitical tensions continued to weigh on sentiment.

Investors also digested Swiss retail sales and unemployment data.

The benchmark SMI, which advanced to 11,613.79, dropped to a low of 11,417.16, and eventually ended with a loss of 32.79 points or 0.28% at 11,510.46.

Data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) showed Switzerland’s unemployment rate remained stable for the third straight month in July, coming in at 2.3%, the same as in the previous three months.

In the corresponding month last year, the jobless rate was 1.9%. Data also showed that the seasonally adjusted jobless rate stood at 2.5% in July, up from 2.4% in June.

Swiss retail sales declined 2.2% in June, declining for the second straight month, data from the Federal Statistical Office revealed. Sales were expected to grow 0.5% in June. In May, retail sales fell by 0.2%.

SGS ended down 1.74%. Kuehne + Nagel, Schindler Ps, Richemont and Roche GS ended down 1.3 to 1.5%.

Sika, Holcim, Geberit, Sandoz Group and SIG Group lost 0.7 to 1%. Logitech International, Julius Baer, Swisscom and Givaudan also ended weak.

Sonova rallied more than 6% after the company introduced a hearing aid that utilises real-time artificial intelligence to improve speech clarity from background noise, the first such product in the global market.

Along with the hearing aid, named Sphere Infinio, Sonova is launching a new Infinio platform, according to Reuters.

Alcon, Straumann Holding, Swiss Re, Lindt & Spruengli and VAT Group posted moderate gains.