Swiss Market Settles Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - After a weak start and a subsequent rebound, the Switzerland stock market faltered and struggled to find support till the end of the session on Friday as the mood remained cautious with a negative bias due to weak global cues.

Fears of sharp interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and several other central banks to combat inflation, raised concerns about growth, prompting investors to refrain from picking up stocks.

The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 43 points or 0.35% at 12,258.33. The index, which dropped to 12,203.61 at the start, touched a high of 12,316.74 later on in the session.

Logitech tumbled nearly 6.5%. ABB drifted down 3.45%, while Richemont, Swiss Re, Credit Suisse, Alcon, Swiss Life Holding and Sika lost 2 to 2.7%.

Partners Group, UBS Group, Lonza Group and Zurich Insurance Group ended lower by 1.25 to 1.7%.

Holcim rallied 3.73%. Nestle gained 1.86% and SGS gained about 1.5%. Roche Holding advanced 0.7%.

In the Mid Price Index, Straumann Holding tumbled 6.58%. Sonova and Tecan Group both ended lower by nearly 5%. Georg Fischer, VAT Group, Temenos Group, Dufry, Julius Baer, Swatch Group and BB Biotech lost 3 to 4.1%. Bachem Holding, AMS, Clariant and Flughafen Zurich also ended sharply lower.