Swiss Market Ends Sharply Lower As Credit Suisse Crisis Triggers Sell-off

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market ended sharply lower on Wednesday as Credit Suisse tanked to record lows as the lender's biggest shareholder's refusal to offer any further funding to the Swiss bank triggered massive selling at the counter.

Other bank stocks plunged as well, and the broad market suffered too, as the mood remained extremely bearish right through the day's session.

The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 200.32 points or 1.87% at 10,516.40, after hitting a low of 10,460.34 intraday.

Credit Suisse plunged 24.24% after Saudi National Bank's chairman Ammar Al Khudairy ruled out injecting further funds into Credit Suisse if there was another call for additional liquidity.

Reuters quotes Al Khudairy as saying that Saudi National Bank cannot provide the Swiss bank with more financial assistance, as "We cannot because we would go above 10%. It's a regulatory issue."

UBS Group shares tanked 8.72%. Swiss Life Holding, Swiss Re, ABB, Richemont, Partners Group and Zurich Insurance Group lost 4 to 6%.

Sonova and Holcim both ended lower by about 3.2%. Sika ended 2.4% down, while Geberit and Logitech both lost more than 1.5%.

Givaudan advanced about 1.2%. Novartis advanced 0.81%, while Swisscom gained 0.45%.

In the Mid Price Index, Temenos Group crashed 10.7%. Zur Rose and Julius Baer lost 7.2% and 7%, respectively.

Adecco, AMS, Helvetia, Baloise Holding, Georg Fischer, Clariant and Swatch Group lost 4 to 6%.

Galenica Sante gained nearly 2%. Swiss Prime Site, Belimo Holding and PSP Swiss Property posted modest gains.