Despite opening on a firm note and holding in positive territory till around mid afternoon, the Switzerland stock market ended weak on Wednesday as investors chose to take some profits after two successive days of gains.
The benchmark SMI ended down 27.89 points or 0.26% at 10,775.68. The index, which rose to 10,887.51 in early trades, touched a low of 10,762.83 in the final hour.
The index ended with a gain of about 1.4% on Tuesday, after moving up by about 0.6% a session earlier.
Optimism about vaccination campaign picking up momentum, and hopes that the Joe Biden Administration will come up with additional fiscal stimulus sometime soon aided sentiment early on in the session.
Sika, Partners Group and Swatch Group lost 1 to 1.3%. Lonza Group, Givaudan, Roche Holding, Novartis and Richemont ended lower by 0.4 to 0.8%.
Zurich Insurance Group moved up 1.6%, while Alcon and ABB gained 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively. UBS Group ended higher by about 0.5%.
Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Temenos Group ended 2.8% down, while Julius Baer, Vifor Pharma, Clariant and Sonova lost 1.3 to 2%.
BB Biotech climbed nearly 2.5%. OC Oerlikon Corp and Dufry gained 1.7% and 1.5%, respectively, while Helvetia and Cembra Money Bank both ended nearly 1% up.
Market Analysis
Swiss Market Fails To Hold Early Gains, Settles Modestly Lower
2021-02-03 19:20:31
