Swiss Market Fails To Hold Early Gains, Closes Weak

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market failed to hold early gains and ended weak on Tuesday as a surge in coronavirus cases rendered the mood a bit bearish.

The benchmark SMI, which dropped to 12,409.13, ended with a loss of 40.21 points or 0.32% at 12,436.66. The index touched a high of 12,524.10 in early trades.

Shares of drugmaker Novartis lost 1.7% after the company said its Kymriah CAR-T therapy did not meet its primary endpoint of event-free survival in a phase III study.

Swisscom declined 1.55%. Geberit, Givaudan and Roche Holding ended lower by 0.85%, 0.7% and 0.55%, respectively.

Credit Suisse, Partners Group and Richemont gained 0.8% to 1.05%. Holcim, UBS Group, Swiss Life Holding and Swiss Re also closed higher.

In the Mid Price Index, Tecan Group declined 2.1% and Sonova closed nearly 2% down. BB Biotech, Vifor Pharma, Straumann Holdings, Adecco and Galenica Sante shed 0.9 to 1.2%.

Dufry shares gained nearly 4%. Cembra Money Bank ended 3.6% up, extending gains from the previous session. AMS surged up 2.8% and Flughafen Zurich gained about 1.1%.

Switzerland is being hit by a fourth wave of the coronavirus with a "very worrying" rise in infections, Patrick Mathys, a top official at the Federal Office of Public Health, said today.

New cases have reportedly risen in in Switzerland to between 2,500-3,000 a day. Cases are rising among young people, elderly people and under 10s, said Mathys.