Swiss Market Ends Moderately Lower

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market closed moderately lower on Thursday after struggling for support right through the session. Investors reacted to earnings announcements, and the nation's employment data.

The benchmark SMI settled with a loss of 64.67 points or 0.52% at 12,298.86.

Amrize ended down 3.64%. ABB, Partners Group, Swatch Group and Sonova lost 1.6 to 2.2%.

Holcim, SGS, VAT Group, Richemon, UBS Group, Lonza Group and Swiss Re ended lower by 1 to 1.4%. Alcon and Straumann Holding also closed notably lower.

Swisscom climbed about 3.25%. Galderman Group gained 1.1%. Geberit and Logitech International ended higher by 0.84% and 0.5%, respectively.

Watches Of Switzerland Group shares gained more than 5% on strong first-half results. The company reported revenue of £845 million for the first-quarter, up 10% at constant currency compared to analyst expectations of £825 million.

Data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, said Switzerland's unemployment rate increased slightly in October to the highest level in eight months.

The unadjusted unemployment rate came in at 2.9% in October, up from 2.8% in September. Moreover, a similar rate was last seen in February. In the corresponding month last year, the jobless rate was 2.5%.

The youth unemployment rate, which is applied to the 15-24 age group, dropped to 3.1% from 3.2%.

Data also showed that the seasonally adjusted jobless rate remained stable at 3%.