Swiss Market Ends Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market ended slightly weak on Wednesday after spending much of the day's session in positive territory.

The mood was cautious right through the session with investors following news about coronavirus infections rate and looking for directional clues.

Global markets had moved up sharply in the past week thanks largely to encouraging updates on coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca Pharma, and news about the Trump administration paving the way for the transition of President-elect Joe Biden to White House.

The benchmark SMI, which advanced to 10,543.26 early on in the session, retreated as stocks pared gains, and finally ended the session with a small loss of 3.32 points or 0.03% at 10,488.27.

Sika, Swiss Re, UBS Group and Swiss Life Holding lost 1 to 1.2%. Credit Suisse, Swatch Group, Richemont and SGS ended lower by 0.5 to 0.8%.

Swisscom moved up by about 1.4%. Partners Group advanced nearly 1% and Novartis ended 0.9% up.

In the midcap section, Clariant and Georg Fischer lost 1.8% and 1.6%, respectively. VAT Group, Baloise Holding, AMS, Cembra Money Bank, Flughafen Zurich, Schindler Holding and Straumann Holding ended lower by 0.8 to 1.3%.

Among the gainers, Logitech surged up 2.3%. Dufry advanced 1.75%, while SIG Combibloc and OC Oerlikon Corp both moved up 1.25%, and Julius Baer added nearly 1%.

Basilea Pharmaceutica AG shares rose sharply on reports the marketing authorization application for the antifungal isavuconazole (Cresemba) for invasive aspergillosis, which was submitted by the company's license partner Pfizer (PFE), has been accepted for regulatory review in China.