Swiss Market Ends Marginally Down

(RTTNews) - Swiss stocks started off on a positive note on Thursday, but slipped into the red around mid morning, and despite staging a recovery in late afternoon trades, ended the session marginally down.

Worries about growth and possibility of the Federal Reserve continuing with its aggressive interest rate hikes rendered the mood quite cautious. Concerns about geopolitical tensions weighed as well on sentiment.

The benchmark SMI ended lower by 18.74 points or 0.17% at 10,917.88 after scaling a high of 10,993.11 and a low of 10,838.80 intraday.

Alcon ended more than 3% down. Roche Holding drifted down 1.7% and Holcim ended lower by about 1.4%. Geberit lost 1%, while Lonza Group and Logitech both shed about 0.8%.

Nestle climbed 1.3% and Zurich Insurance Group advanced 1.04%. Partners Group, Swiss Re, Swisscom and Givaudan posted modest gains.

Among the stocks in the Swiss Mid Price Index, Zur Rose ended 4.1% down. VAT Group ended lower by 2.8% and Adecco dropped 2.2%.

Clariant, Straumann Holding, Swatch Group and Schindler PS also ended notably lower.

Tecan Group gained about 1.75%. Barry Callebaut, Galenica Sante, Bachem Holding, Lindt & Spruengli and SIG Combibloc gained 0.6 to 1.3%.

Data released by the Federal Customs Administration showed Switzerland's trade surplus increased to CHF 3 billion in October, the largest since April, from an upwardly revised CHF 2.9 billion in September. Exports were down 1.1% from a month earlier to CHF 22.9 billion, while imports shrank 1.4% to CHF 20 billion.