Swiss Market Ends On Weak Note

(RTTNews) - After spending a few minutes in positive territory at the start, Switzerland stock market's benchmark SMI drifted down and then stayed weak right through the trading session on Wednesday, with investors digesting corporate earnings updates and looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's rate decision due later in the day.

The SMI ended down by 46.05 points or 0.37% at 12,314.10. The index, which edged up to 12,374.43 at the start, touched a low of 12,277.25 in the penultimate hour of the session.

Lindt & Spruengli ended nearly 3% down. Givaudan and Geberit lost 2.08% and 1.82%, respectively.

UBS Group shares ended notably lower despite reporting significantly higher profit in its third quarter with lower expenses and higher revenues. In the third quarter, net profit attributable to shareholders climbed 74% to $2.48 billion from last year's $1.43 billion. Earnings per share were $0.76, up 77 percent from $0.43 a year ago.

The latest results included net litigation reserve releases of $668 million, mainly due to the resolution of legal matters related to Credit Suisse's Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities business and UBS's legacy cross-border activities in France.

Nestle, Swisscom, Lonza Group and Zurich Insurance lost 1 to 1.12%, respectively.

Straumann Holding climbed 7.61%. Amrize surged 5.65%. Galderma Group gained about 2.7%.

Logitech International rallied 3.65%. The computer peripherals firm posted higher annual second quarter fiscal 2026 earnings, beating estimates. The company's earnings came in at $170.67 million, or $1.15 per share. This compares with $145.48 million, or $0.95 per share, last year.

Excluding items, Logitech International SA reported adjusted earnings of $215.57 million or $1.45 per share for the period.

Sandoz Group, Swatch Group and Julius Baer gained 1.93%, 1.68% and 1.21%, respectively. VAT Group advanced nearly 1%.

In economic news, a report from UBS & CFA Society said the Swiss investors' sentiment index rose by 38.7 points month-on-month to -7.7 in October. According to UBS, this is one of the largest increases in the history of the indicator, next to surges observed in the aftermath of the great financial crisis and during the COVID pandemic.

Meanwhile, the current conditions index remained neutral at 0, down from 3.6 in the previous month, reflecting subdued assessments of the present economic situation.