Swiss Market Settles Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market ended marginally down on Thursday after spending almost the entire session in negative territory amid concerns about global economic growth due to Middle East tensions and elevated oil prices.

The benchmark SMI ended down 18.42 points or 0.13% at 14,368.16 after moving between 14,284.06 and 14,410.36.

Logitech International dropped nearly 5%. Helvetia Baloise Holding, Richemont, Swiss Re, Straumann Holding and Galderma Group lost 1%-1.6%.

ABB shed nearly 1%. Sandoz Group, Sika, SGS, Novartis, VAT Group, Partners Group and Swiss Life Holding drifted down 0.5%-0.7%.

Givaudan climbed more than 2%. Schindler Ps, Roche and Lonza Group moved up 1.1%-1.4%. Geberit gained nearly 1%. Julius Baer, Sonova, Kuehne + Nagel and Holcim posted modest gains.

Data from the Federal Customs Administration showed Switzerland's foreign trade surplus grew notably in July as exports surged amid a fall in imports.

The trade surplus rose to CHF 8.1 billion in July from CHF 3.8 billion in June. In real terms, exports logged a double-digit growth of 10.7% monthly in July, while imports dropped 2.8%.

Exports of chemicals and pharmaceutical products advanced 21.6%, and those of metals and metal products rose by 5.8%. Meanwhile, the country imported 15.9% fewer jewelry items.