BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Switzerland stock market closed weak on Friday, in line with most of the markets across Europe, as uncertainty about the pace of global economic recovery due to surging coronavirus cases weighed on sentiment.
Save for a few minutes at the start, the benchmark SMI was down in the red today. The index ended the session with a loss of 80.62 points or 0.65% at 12,351.84, recovering some ground from the day's low of 12,296.12.
Among the stocks in the SMI, only Alcon, Swisscom and ABB managed to close on the positive side. All the three stocks closed with marginal gains.
Richemont declined 2.5%, Swatch Group ended 1.8% down and Novartis shed 1.28%, while Sika, Lonza Group, Geberit and Zurich Insurance Group lost 1 to 1.1%.
Credit Suisse and UBS Group both ended lower by about 0.5%. Swiss Re, Swiss Life Holding and Holcim shed 0.5 to 0.8%. Roche Holding declined marginally.
In the Mid Price Index, Temenos Group shed 3.63%. Dufry declined nearly 3% and Tecan Group ended lower by 2.65%. Straumann Holding, Julius Baer, Flugahfen Zurich, Sonova and AMS lost 1.25 to 1.85%.
Logitech and Cembra Money Bank gained 1.35% and 1.1%, respectively. BB Biotech and VAT Group posted modest gains.
According to Swiss health officials, Switzerland is being hit by a fourth wave of the coronavirus with a 'very worrying' rise in infections. The country reported 3,106 new cases in the last 24 hours, more than a 7-day average of 2,531.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
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