Swiss Market Ends Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market ended notably lower on Tuesday, tracking weak global markets, as worries about the impact of interest rate hikes continued to weigh on sentiment.

The benchmark SMI, which spent a few minutes in positive territory around mid morning, after recovering from a weak start, kept drifting lower as the session progressed to eventually end with a loss of 90.73 points or 0.8% at 11,215.91.

Sika, Lonza Group, Geberit and UBS Group lost 2.3 to 3.7%. Partners Group declined 1.69% and ABB ended 1.42% down.

Sonova, Richemont, Logitech, Zurich Insurance Group and Nestle lost 0.6 to 1%.

In the Mid Price Index, DocMorris and AMS ended lower by 3.28% and 3.1%, respectively. Meyer Burger Tech shed 2.8%, while Clariant, Straumann Holding, Tecan Group, Belimo Holding, VAT Group, Temenos Group and Ems Chemie Holding lost 1.3 to 2.4%.

Flughafen Zurich and SIG Combibloc climbed 1.52% and 1.44%, respectively. Galenica Sante surged nearly 1%. Lindt & Spruengli and Helvetia also ended notably higher.

In economic news, Switzerland's foreign trade surplus increased in May as exports rebounded strongly amid a fall in imports, data from the Federal Customs Administration showed on Tuesday.

The trade surplus rose to CHF 4.3 billion in May from CHF 2.2 billion in the previous month.

In real terms, exports advanced 4.5% month-on-month in May, reversing a 5.9% decline in April.

Shipments of vehicles grew the most, by 15.5% over the month, closely followed by chemicals and pharmaceuticals with a 14.9% surge.

Imports decreased 0.1% versus a 3.2% fall in the previous month.

Elsewhere, data from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry showed that watch exports continued to grow strongly in May. Exports posted a double-digit growth rate of 14.4% to CHF 2.3 billion.