Swiss Shares Head South Again On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market turned lower again on Friday and has now finished in the red in two of three trading days since the end of the modest two-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 150 points or 1.3 percent.

The SMI opened lower but rebounded briefly into positive territory before heading back under water for the rest of the session in fairly volatile trade.

The soft sentiment was in line with much of the rest of Europe as the markets turned lower after mixed employment data from the United States reignited concerns about the health of the global economy.

For the day, the index dropped 50.80 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 11,075.15 after trading between 11,069.45 and 11,133.63.

Among the actives, Sika stumbled 1.36 percent, while ABB declined 1.13 percent, Swatch Group climbed 1.05 percent, Nestle slumped 0.88 percent, Swisscom shed 0.56 percent, UBS sank 0.30 percent, Julius Bar Gruppe slid 0.29 percent, Swiss Life added 0.22 percent, Zurich Insurance collected 0.12 percent and Novartis rose 0.04 percent.

In economic news, Switzerland's consumer price inflation held steady in August after easing in the previous five months, the Federal Statistical Office reported Friday.

The consumer price index climbed 1.6 percent on year in August, the same pace as in July. Economists had expected inflation to ease to 1.5 percent. Moreover, inflation remained within the central bank's target range of 0 to 2 percent.