Swiss Stocks Decline Sharply, End Lower For 3rd Straight Session

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market declined sharply on Friday amid mounting worries about global economic growth after the latest data showed a significant slowdown in manufacturing and services sectors activity in the eurozone.

Save for a few minutes at the start of the session, the market was down in negative territory.

Markets across Europe settled notably lower today. Besides weak data from the zone, disappointing data from the U.S., uncertainty over Brexit and U.S.-China trade talks contributed to the sell-off.

The benchmark SMI ended down 134.63 points, or 1.42%, at 9,319.42, slightly off the day's low of 9,313.56.

On Thursday, the index ended down 9.27 points, or 0.1% at 9,454.05.

Adecco Group shares ended 3.85% down. ABB, LafargeHolcim and Credit Suisse lost 3 to 3.4%. Lonza Group ended nearly 3% down.

Julius Baer, UBS Group, Swatch, Richemont, Geberit, SGS, Swiss Life Holding, Swiss Re, Nestle, Zurich Insurance and Sika lost 1 to 2.8%.

Schaffner Holding declined more than 6.5% after the company said it expects net sales for the current year to be below last year's level due to the changed economic environment.

Interroll Holding shares jumped 5.75% after the company said it reached a full-year order intake of 592.6 million Swiss francs.

Among other major markets in Europe, Germany's DAX tumbled 1.61%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 ended lower by 2.01% and 2.03%, respectively. The pan European Stoxx 600 declined 1.22%.