Swiss Market Ends Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - Swiss stocks declined sharply on Tuesday, in line with markets across Europe, as worries about growth and inflation outweighed optimism about U.S. debt ceiling deal.

The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 151.79 points or 1.33% at 11,282.45, the day's low.

Nestle ended 3.3% down. The Swiss food group said has hired Anna Manz, the finance chief at the London Stock Exchange Group, as its new chief financial officer.

Credit Suisse, Novartis and UBS Group ended lower by 2.37%, 2.13% and 1.87%, respectively.

Logitech declined 1.51% and Sonova drifted down 1.3%. Roche Holding, Alcon, Givaudan, Lonza Group, Holcim and Sika lost 0.8 to 1%.

Swiss Re, Richemont and Zurich Insurance Group gained 0.68%, 0.47% and 0.4%, respectively.

In the Mid Price Index, Barry Callebaut declined more than 2.5%. Lindt & Spruengli, Galenica Sante, Georg Fischer, DocMorris and Julius Baer lost 1 to 1.7%.

Bachem Holding rallied more than 2%. Dufry, VAT Group, AMS, Swatch Group, Temenos Group, Baloise Holding and Flughafen Zurich gained 1 to 1.7%.

Data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, showed the Swiss economy rebounded at a faster-than-expected pace at the start of the year on robust domestic demand.

Gross domestic product grew 0.3% sequentially in the first quarter after stagnating in the fourth quarter of 2022. The rate also exceeded economists' forecast of 0.1% expansion. On a yearly basis, economic growth slowed marginally to 0.6% from 0.7%. In March, the Swiss National Bank had projected the economy to grow around 1 percent this year.

The outlook for the economy continued to darken, a survey data from the Zurich-based KOF Swiss Economic Institute showed. The KOF Economic Barometer fell to 90.2 in May from revised 96.4 in April. The indicator declined for the second straight month.