Swiss Market Ends Moderately Lower

(RTTNews) - After staying weak till well past noon, the Switzerland market briefly edged up into positive territory but retreated and stayed weak thereafter to eventually close on a weak note on Monday.

Worries about tensions in the Middle East, concerns about possible interest rate hikes by some central banks, including the Federal Reserve, rendered the mood cautious.

The benchmark SMI, which dropped to 13,265.50 around mid-morning, recovered to 13,401.53 but drifted down and settled at 13,320.99, down 67.24 points or 0.5% from previous close.

Amrize ended 4.2% down. Holcim shed 2.4%, while Sonova and Roche closed lower by 1.15% and 1.35%, respectively. Roche announced that it has entered into an exclusive licensing and collaboration ?agreement with Nurix Therapeutics. The deal is reportedly worth $2.3 billion.

Sika, Geberit, Lindt & Spruengli, Novartis, ABB, Julius Baer and Nestle lost 0.4%-1%.

Galderma Group climbed 3.3%. Givaudan and VAT Group both gained a little over 2%. Straumann Holding advanced 1.3%. Lonza Group, Sandos Group, UBS and Kuehne + Nagel posted moderate gains.