Swiss Stock Market Closes In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market opened lower on Tuesday and spent the entire session in the red, handing back gains from the previous session.

The early selling pressure came after inflation figures from France and Spain came in hotter than expected for February, which may force the European Central Bank to take a more aggressive stance with interest rates.

For the day, the index dropped 121.58 points or 1.08 percent to finish at the daily low of 11,098.35 after peaking at 11,220.15.

Among the individual components, Addeco plunged 2.90 percent, while Nestle dropped 2.36 percent, Novartis retreated 1.37 percent, Swatch Group climbed 1.27 percent, Swisscom sank 0.96 percent, Roche Holding shed 0.82 percent, Swiss Re added 0.68 percent, UBS Group gained 0.64 percent, Credit Suisse collected 0.60 percent, Zurich Insurance eased 0.18 percent and Swiss Life was unchanged.

In economic news, Switzerland's economy stagnated at the end of 2022 as the challenging global conditions curtailed exports and manufacturing output.

Gross domestic product logged a flat sequential growth in the fourth quarter after expanding 0.2 percent in the previous three months, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, said Tuesday. Year-on-year economic growth eased to 0.7 percent from 0.9 percent in the third quarter.