Swiss Market Ends On Weak Note

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market ended weak on Friday after languishing in negative territory right through the day's session, as concerns about the outlook for U.S. interest rates continued to weigh on sentiment.

The benchmark SMI ended down by 35.05 points or 0.29% at 11,931.70. The index touched a low of 11,857.09 in early trades.

Partners Group ended down 2.03%. Straumann Holding ended lower by 1.67%, VAT Group lost 1.28%, Novartis, Roche Holding and Sonova lost 1 to 1.1%.

Nestle and Sandoz Group ended nearly 1% down. Alcon, Lindt & Spruengli, SIG Group and Swisscom also ended weak.

BKW, Temenos Group, Tecan Group, Swiss Prime Site, ams OSRAM and Belimo Holding lost 0.6 to 2%.

Holcim, Swiss Life Holding, Kuehne & Nagel, UBS Group, Richemont, Swiss Re, Schindler Ps, ABB, Geberit and Lonza Group gained 0.6 to 1%.

Barry Callebaut, Georg Fischer, Baloise Holding, Schindler Holding and SGS also closed higher.

On the economic front, data from the Federal Statistical Office showed Switzerland's non-farm payrolls rose 1.8% year-on-year to 5.484 million in the first quarter of this year, following a 1.7% rise in the previous quarter.