Swiss Stock Market Finishes Under Pressure On Friday

The Swiss stock market moved lower again on Friday, extending Thursday’s losses after straddling the unchanged line for most of the session.

Selling pressure emerged as the selloff on U.S. Treasuries resumed, with yields on the 10-year notes climbing back above 1.6 percent to their highest levels in over a year, fueling inflation concerns.

The SMI slid 43.30 points or 0.40 percent to finish at 10,839.93 after trading between 10,830.28 and 10,872.21.

Among the actives, Credit Suisse plunged 2.50 percent, while Compagnie Financiere Richemont spiked 2.08 percent, Roche Holding tumbled 1.09 percent, UBS Group jumped 0.94 percent, Novartis dropped 0.75 percent, Lafarge Holcim gained 0.63 percent, Sika sank 0.53 percent, Swiss Re rose 0.41 percent, Swatch Group increased 0.39 percent and Zurich Insurance was up 0.23 percent.

The lower close came as many of the other major European markets saw erratic trade and finished on opposite sides of the unchanged line.

Germany’s DAX fell 67.00 points or 0.46 percent to 14,502.39, while London’s FTSE rose 24.51 points or 0.36 percent to 6,761.47 and the CAC 40 in France gained 12.79 points or 0.21 percent to 6,046.55.

In corporate news, Swiss clinical-stage pharmaceutical company NLS Pharmaceutics AG has entered into a license agreement with Novartis Pharma AG for full regulatory data in the original NDA for Sanorex or Mazindol submitted to FDA in February 1972. The company said the data will help reduce its clinical budget to advance Quilience, a controlled release formulation of Mazindol.

Market Analysis