Swiss Market Ends On Weak Note

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market ended notably lower on Tuesday, in line with markets across Europe, as rising Treasury yields and worries about inflation rendered the mood bearish.

The benchmark SMI, which dropped to a low of 12,484.44 earlier in the session, ended with a loss of 103.65 points or 0.82% at 12,529.56.

Partners Group declined 3.6%. Sika ended nearly 3% down, while Lonza Group and Givaudan both ended lower by about 2.5%.

Logitech, ABB, Holcim, Credit Suisse, Richemont, UBS Group, SGS and Geberit lost 1 to 2%.

Swiss Re gained nearly 1%. Swisscom advanced 0.7% and Nestle gained 0.36%. Swiss Life Holding edged up marginally.

Among the stocks in the Swiss Mid Price Index, Straumann Holding ended nearly 6.5% down. VAT Group shed about 5%, while SIG Combibloc, Lindt & Spruengli and BB Biotech ended lower by 4.3%, 4.1% and 3.8%, respectively.

Schindler Ps, Schindler Holding, Galenica Sante, Dufry, Sonova and Cembra Money Bank also declined sharply.

In economic news, data from the Federal Statistical Office showed Switzerland's producer and import prices rose 5.1% year-on-year in December.

The producer price index rose 3.1% annually in December and import prices increased 9.2%. On a monthly basis, producer and import prices decreased 0.1% in December.

Domestic sale prices gained 4% yearly in December and rose 0.1% from a month ago, the data showed.

In 2021, average producer and import price inflation was 2.7%.

The latest increase was mainly due to higher prices for basic metals and semi-finished metal products as well as for petroleum products, the agency said.

Meanwhile, in coronavirus news, Switzerland is currently undergoing a fifth wave of the pandemic, with the number of new daily coronavirus infections reaching unprecedented highs. According to Swiss health agencies, 67,906 new cases were reported on January 17 for the previous 72-hour period.

Swiss health experts reportedly expect the number of Covid infections to peak within the next 1-3 weeks.