Swiss Market Ends Lower Again

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market ended weak on Friday, in line with markets across Europe, as worries about the coronavirus outbreak escalated after new cases were reported in Japan and South Korea, and China too reported a sharp increase in the number of new infections due to the virus.

The benchmark SMI ended down 43.75 points, or 0.39%, at 11,110.78. The index, which recovered to 11,172.44 after staying in the red till around noon, declined to a low of 11,057.33 later on in the session, before regaining some lost ground.

On Thursday, the SMI hit a new high of 11,270.00 in early trades, but lost its way and eventually ended the session at 11,154.53, losing 108.48 points, or 0.96%.

Swiss Re and UBS Group declined 2.89% and 2.61%, respectively. ABB ended down 1.6% and Credit Suisse eased 1.29%.

Swatch Group, LafargeHolcim and Givaudan lost 0.7 to 1%, while Swiss Life Holding, Zurich Insurance Group, Swisscom, Nestle and SGS ended lower by 0.3 to 0.6%.

Sika ended stronger by about 4.7%. The company's profit for the year fell short of expectations, but an upward guidance in sales forecast for 2020 triggered buying interest at the counter.

In the midcap section, Kuehne & Nagel declined 2.2%. OC Oerlikon Corp, VAT Group, Flughafen Zurich, AMS and Barry Callebaut lost 1.4 to 2%. Schindler Holding ended down 1.1%.

BB Biotech rose 1.75% after the company reported a net gain of 677 million Swiss francs for 2019.

Chinese officials reported 1,109 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, up sharply from 349 cases the previous day. Meanwhile, South Korean health authorities also reported 52 new cases of the fast-spreading disease, raising the national tally to 156, while the number of confirmed cases in Japan increased by 23 to 728.

Among the major indices in Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 declined 0.44%, Germany's DAX closed lower by 0.62% and France's CAC 40 slid 0.54%. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.49%.