Swiss Market Ends Moderately Lower

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market ended moderately lower on Thursday after languishing in negative territory right through the day's trading session, amid uncertainty about the outlook for Fed interest rates.

Data showing a bigger than expected increase in U.S. producer prices in the month of February has added to uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates in the world's largest economy.

The benchmark SMI ended down by 69.76 points or 0.59% at 11,720.70. The index touched a low of 11,688.35 and a high of 11,779.76 in the session.

Swiss Life Holding ended down 5.32%. Roche Holding drifted down 3.57%. Kuehne & Nagel declined 2%, and Partners Group ended lower by 1.03%.

Lonza Group climbed 2.57%, while Logitech International, Sonova and Swiss RE gained 1.71%, 1.58% and 1.21%, respectively. ABB and Richemont posted modest gains.

Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Meyer Burger Tech tanked 14.5% and ams OSRAM AG plunged 10.1%.

SGS ended 3.3% down, BKW lost about 2.2%, Straumann Holding closed lower by 1.88% and Avolta settled 1.52% down. Helvetia ended lower by 1.06%.

On the economic front, data from the Federal Statistical Office showed Switzerland's producer and import prices declined for the tenth straight month, dropping by 2% year-on-year in February, but slower than the 2.3% fall in the previous month.

The producer price index dropped 0.3% annually in February, while import prices registered a sharp decrease of 5.4%.

On a monthly basis, producer and import prices edged up 0.1% in February versus a 0.5% fall in the prior month. It was the first increase in eight months.

The monthly increase was largely attributed to higher costs for petroleum and natural gas as well as petroleum products. In contrast, chemical products became cheaper.

Meanwhile, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said the Swiss economic growth is set to pick up next year but cited geopolitical tensions, shifts in trade patterns and tight financing conditions as challenges to growth.

In the OECD Economic Survey of Switzerland, the agency said the economy will grow moderately by 0.9% this year before picking up to 1.4% in 2025. Inflation is forecast to climb temporarily again above 2% over the course of 2024, pushed up by rent and electricity price increases and changes to value-added tax rates.