Swiss Market Ends Sharply Lower For 4th Straight Day

(RTTNews) - After a weak start and a subsequent brief spell in positive territory, the Switzerland stock market tumbled Tuesday morning and spent the rest of the day's session in the red to eventually close notably lower.

Rising worries about the economic impact of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the stringent sanctions on Russia, including a likely ban on oil from that country, rendered the market weak.

The benchmark SMI, which advanced to 11,370.88 after a slightly negative start, ended the day with a loss of 147.61 points or 1.32% at 11,057.06, after dropping to a low of 10,958.53.

Givaudan ended more than 5.5% down. Lonza Group, Richemont and SGS lost 4.7%, 4.4% and 4%, respectively. Geberit, Novartis, Alcon and Logitech declined 3.1 to 3.3%. Partners Group and Nestle also declined sharply.

UBS Group rallied 4.2%, Swiss Re gained 3.15%, ABB advanced 2.2% and Swiss Life Holding climbed nearly 2%. Credit Suisse ended 3.56% up, while Roche Holding and Zurich Insurance Group both gained about 1%.

In the Mid Price Index, Zur Rose tanked nearly 9%, Kuehne & Nagel dropped 7.4% and Tecan Group ended 6.1% down. Straumann Holding declined 5.4%, while Barry Callebaut, Clariant, Ems Chemie Holding and Georg Fischer lost 2.4 to 3.25%.

Flughafen Zurich climbed more than 6%, Dufry gained about 4.4% and Helvetia advanced 2.85%. OC Oerlikon Corp, AMS, Cembra Money Bank, Galenica Sante and Julius Baer lost 1.6 to 2.6%.