BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Despite a few brief spells in positive territory during the course of the day's session, the Switzerland market ended on a weak note on Friday as rising concerns about inflation and uncertainty about interest rate moves by the Federal Reserve weighed on sentiment.
The benchmark SMI ended the session with a loss of 44.57 points or 0.38% at 11,676.13, the day's low. The index advanced to 11,761.03 in early trades.
Sonova, down 6.39%, was the biggest loser in the SMI index. Lonza Group ended nearly 2% down. Alcon, Richemont and Novartis ended lower by 1.79%, 1.62%, and 1.34%, respectively.
Sika, Roche Holding and Partners Group ended with moderate losses.
Swisscom shares rallied nearly 5% after British telecom major Vodafone Group Plc announced its binding agreement to sell Vodafone Italy to Swisscom AG for an enterprise value of 8 billion euros.
UBS Group gained 1.33%, while Swiss Life Holding, Geberit, Logitech International and Givaudan gained 0.7 to 1.01%. Swiss Re and Kuehne & Nagel posted modest gains.
In the Mid Price index, Julius Baer, Straumann Holding, VAT Group and BKW ended down 1.55 to 2%. SGS, Ems Chemie Holding, ams OSRAM AG, Sandos and Georg Fischer also ended notably lower.
Meyer Burger Tech gained about 3.4%, recovering a bit from recent losses. Avolta, Galenica Sante, Swiss Prime Site, SIG Group, Flughafen Zurich, Adecco and Clariant also ended with strong gains.
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