Swiss Market Ends On Weak Note After Choppy Session

(RTTNews) - After swinging between gains and losses and moving in a tight range around the flat line, Swiss stocks drifted down in the closing minutes to end modestly lower on Wednesday.

Worries about rising interest rates and fears of a global recession weighed on stocks.

The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 26.55 points or 0.24% at 10,812.67. The index touched a low of 10,803.10 and a high of 10,854.90 intraday.

Credit Suisse ended nearly 3% down. ABB ended lower by almot 1%. Swisscom drifted down 0.71%, while UBS Group, Swiss Life Holding, Roche Holding and Swiss Re lost 0.4 to 0.6%.

Lonza Group, Givaudan, Sonova and Richemont gained 0.5 to 0.7%.

In the Mid Price index, Zur Rose ended 4.47% down. Adecco and AMS lost 1.29% and 1.1%, respectively. Lindt & Spruengli, Baloise Holding, Schindler Holding and Julius Baer posted moderate losses.

Galenica Sante surged 0.73%. Straumann Holding ended 0.34% up. SGS and Tecan Group edged up marginally.

In economic news, a report from Credit Suisse & CFA Society Switzerland said the Swiss investor sentiment index rose by 14.7 points from the previous month to -42.8 in December 2022, suggesting sentiment among Swiss financial analysts became less negative at the end of 2022.

"Although Swiss financial analysts are now somewhat less pessimistic about the Swiss economy, the only improvement in economic growth they are expecting to see - if at all - is in China," the CFA Society Switzerland said. "Despite the recent rate hikes by the central banks, a large majority of analysts are looking for interest rates to rise," it added.