Swiss Market Ends Marginally Down

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market ended marginally down on Friday after spending almost the entire duration of the day's session in negative territory.

The benchmark SMI closed down 10.14 points or 0.09% at 11,780.65, after moving in a very narrow range between 11,747.88 and 11,808.87.

Holcim ended nearly 1.5% down. The company announced that it plans to split with its North American business and list the spinoff on the New York Stock Exchange and SIX Swiss Exchange.

Swiss Re, Schindler Ps, Zurich Insurance Group and Alcon closed lower by 0.8 to 1%.

Novartis, Kuehne + Nagel, UBS Group and Lindt & Spruengli drifted down 0.4 to 0.7%. Swiss Life Holding and Nestle closed modestly lower.

Richemont rallied nearly 3% and Swatch Group closed up 2.61%. Adecco gained 1.87% and Straumann Holding ended with a gain of 1.4%.

Sandoz Group, Givaudan, Julius Baer, SIG Group, Logitech International, VAT Group, Lonza Group and Sonova closed higher by 0.4 to 1%.