Swiss Stock Market Closes Lower Again On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market finished lower on Thursday for the second straight session, dropping almost 160 points or 1.4 percent in that span.

The SMI opened slightly higher and hugged the unchanged line through most of the morning session, but it tumbled in the afternoon to finish firmly in the red.

Investors were concerned about rising interest rates and slowing economic growth after the Bank of Canada's unexpected rate hike, ahead of key monetary policy reviews next week. Soft Eurozone GDP added to the cautious sentiment.

For the day, the index sank 39.21 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 11,308.90 after trading between 11,294.85 and 11,368.52.

Among the individual components, Swatch Group plummeted 2.53 percent, while Swiss Re tumbled 1.71 percent, Roche Holding retreated 1.35 percent, Swisscom declined 1.32 percent, Novartis rallied 0.97 percent, Zurich Insurance skidded 0.65 percent, ABB improved 0.41 percent, Swiss Life fell 0.30 percent and Credit Suisse rose 0.10 percent.