Swiss Stocks Plunge Again; SMI Loses 2.8%

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market ended sharply lower on Monday as stocks across the board reeled under sustained selling pressure due to a sell-off in global markets amid concerns about a possible recession in the U.S., and on escalating conflict in the Middle East.

The benchmark SMI ended down 332.27 points or 2.8% at 11,543.25. The index dropped to a low of 11,419.90 around mid afternoon, before recovering some lost ground.

The SMI had shed 3.59% on Friday.

Sandoz Group tumbled 5.41%. Roche Holding ended nearly 5% down. Lindt & Spruengli, Swiss Re, Roche GS, Swiss Life Holding, Novartis, Holcim and Straumann Holding ended lower by 3 to 4.2%.

Alcon, Richemont, SGS, Givaudan, Zurich Insurance Group, Nestle, Partners Group, ABB, Sika, Lonza Group, Swisscom, Schindler Ps and Sonova lost 2 to 2.9%. SIG Group and Geberit ended nearly 2% down.

VAT Group, the lone gainer in the SMI index, ended 0.75% up.