Swiss Market Ends On Weak Note

The Switzerland stock market ended on a weak note on Friday after a lackluster session. The mood was cautious amid uncertainty about the outlook for central banks’ interest rate moves.

The benchmark SMI, which climbed to 11,253.56 in early trades, ended the session with a loss of 35.36 points or 0.32% at 11,150.52.

ABB ended down 3.6%. Kuehne & Nagel settled lower by about 2.2%, UBS Group ended nearly 2% down, and Sonova drifted down by about 1%. Roche Holding, Lonza Group and Holcim also closed weak.

Zurich Insurance Group, Swisscom, Swiss Re and Novartis gained 0.7 to 1%. Logitech International ended higher by about 0.6%.

In the Mid Price Index, Sandoz settled with a loss of about 3%. Tecan Group ended down 1.55%, while Schindler Ps, Belimo Holding, Schindler Holding, Swatch Group and Georg Fischer lost 0.7 to 1.1%.

Meyer Burger Tech climbed more than 3.5%. ams OSRAM AG surged 3.25% and Temenos Group advanced 2.6%.

Data from the Federal Statistical Office showed Switzerland’s producer and import prices declined for the eighth successive month in December, dropping 1.1% year-on-year in December, following a 1.3% fall in the previous month.

The producer price index climbed 0.5% annually in December, while import prices registered a notable decrease of 4.4%.

On a monthly basis, producer and import prices dropped 0.6% in December versus a 0.9% decline in November, as expected. This was the sixth straight fall in a row.

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