Swiss Market Ends Weak

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market ended modestly lower on Thursday as worries about growth due to rising coronavirus cases in several parts of the U.S., and few other countries, and U.S.-China tensions rendered the mood bearish.

The benchmark SMI ended down 26.58 points or 0.25% at 10,433.43, which incidentally was the session's high. The index touched a low of 10,356.70 after opening at 10,402.24.

Richemont shares tumbled 4.6% after the company's first-quarter total sales fell 47%, hurt by strong impact from Covid-19 pandemic.

Swatch Group shed about 3.7% and Alcon lost nearly 2.5%. Adecco and Novartis ended lower by 0.9% and 0.75%, respectively, while Nestle and Credit Suisse closed modestly lower.

Geberit moved up by about 3%. Sika, Swiss Re, Swisscom, LafargeHolcim and SGS gained 0.5 to 1%.

In the midcap section, Temenos Group declined 6.5%. Vifor Pharma ended down 3.3%, while AMS and Dufry lost 2.2% and 2%, respectively. Sonova ended lower by 1.3% and OC Oerlikon Corp shed about 1%.

Flughafen Zurich rallied almost 4%, while Logitech and Dorma Kaba Holding gained 1.6% and 1.4%, respectively.

The other major markets in Europe too ended weak today. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 shed 0.67%, Germany's DAX lost 0.43% and France's CAC 40 slid 0.46%. The pan European Stoxx 600 shed 0.47%.