Swiss Market Ends Marginally Down

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market ended slightly down on Thursday after a choppy session, with investors largely refraining from making significant moves ahead of crucial U.S. personal income & spending data.

The benchmark SMI ended with a marginal loss of 11.41 points or 0.09% at 12,004.31, after scaling a low of 11,990.32 and a high of 12,050.52 intraday.

SIG Group ended down by 2.83%. Kuehne & Nagel drifted down 1.3%. Swatch Group, Nestle, Geberit, SGS, Novartis and Swisscom lost 0.5 to 1%.

Sandoz Group climbed 1.83% and Holcim gained 1.54%, while Straumann Holding and Schindler Ps ended higher by 1.11% and 1.08%, respectively.

VAT Group ended nearly 1% up. Swiss Life Holding, Roche Holding and Sonova posted modest gains.

Leclanché LECN shares climbed about 13.8% after announcing an agreement to set up a joint venture with Pinnacle International Capital, in which the UK private equity firm will invest 360 million francs.