Swiss Market Ends Slightly Weak

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market ended flat on Tuesday as investors stayed cautious and largely refrained from making significant moves amid a lack of positive triggers.

The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 4.83 points or 0.04% at 10,875.25. The index, which rose to 10,896.36 around mid-morning, slid to 10,829.10 in early afternoon trades.

Credit Suisse surged up 2.65%. Geberit gained about 1.5% and Swatch Group ended nearly 1% up, while UBS Group, Richemont, ABB and Swiss Re gained 0.5 to 0.7%.

Givaudan ended more than 2% down. Alcon, Lonza Group, Novatis and Swisscom ended with modest losses. Sika settled with a loss of about 0.4% after confirming its 2023 strategic targets.

In the midcap section, Kuehne & Nagel, AMS, Flughafen Zurich, VST Group and Georg Fischer gained 2 to 3%.

OC Oerlikon Corp, Helvetia, Swiss Prime Site, SIG Combibloc and Cembra Money Bank gained 1 to 1.5%.

Among the losers, Temenos Group ended lower by about 4.5% following a rating downgrade by Credit Suisse.

Sonova and Lindt & Spruengli each shed about 1.4%. Barry Callebaut, Vifor Pharma and Galenica Sante moved up 0.5 to 0.9%.

In coronavirus news, people travelling from Ireland will now face quarantine in Switzerland, officials said on Tuesday. The new rules came after the World Health Organisation's emergencies director Michael Ryan drew attention to Ireland's plight.