(RTTNews.com) – The Swiss stock market declined in early trade Wednesday, but settled into a sideways trend for much of the session. The market then took out the session lows going into the close of trade. The defensive weighting of the index was largely responsible for the Swiss market underperforming the rest of Europe.
Investors were in a cautious mood ahead of the release of the minutes from the September meeting of the Federal Reserve. Traders are hopeful that the minutes will provide some clues regarding the central bank’s outlook for interest rates.
The Swiss Market Index decreased 0.82 percent Wednesday and finished at 8,068.56. The Swiss Leader Index dropped 0.59 percent and the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.77 percent.
The rest of the healthcare stocks also finished firmly in the red. Galenica dropped 2.3 percent, Actelion surrendered 2.2 percent and Sonova slipped 1.0 percent. In the broad market, Molecular Partners declined 2.4 percent, Cosmo sank 2.7 percent, Straumann forfeited 1.9 percent and Basilea lost 2.8 percent.
Baked goods manufacturer Aryzta also decreased 1.7 percent. LafargeHolcim weakened by 1.1 percent and Geberit slipped 0.7 percent. Kuehne + Nagel also finished lower by 0.5 percent.
Credit Suisse declined 1.1 percent while UBS lost 0.3 percent. The insurance stocks fared much better than the banks today. Bâloise climbed 1.1 percent, Swiss Life rose 0.5 percent and Swiss Re added 0.2 percent.
Syngenta increased 1.1 percent. The stock continues to recover from the losses earlier this week, which were triggered by reports that ChemChina may not have secured all of the funds needed to complete its acquisition of the company.
Richemont advanced 0.6 percent, extending its gains from the previous session. The luxury goods companies rallied yesterday after the strong report from French competitor LVMH. Swatch was positive for most of Wednesday’s session, but finished lower by 0.1 percent.
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Plantations International