Swiss Market Ends Sharply Lower As Mid East War Concerns Weigh

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market ended sharply lower on Thursday, in line with most of the markets across Europe, as rising concerns about the impact of the ongoing Middle East War rendered the mood bearish.

The benchmark SMI, which started off on a weak note, recovered around mid morning and moved along the flat line till about an hour past noon and then kept drifting lower to eventually settle at 13,298.30, losing 212.44 points or 1.57%.

Sonova ended down by 5.5%. Straumann Holding closed lower by 3.76%, while Sika and VAT Group both ended lower by about 3%.

Sandoz Group, Geberit, Novartis, Lonza Group, Roche Holding, ABB, Kuehne + Nagel, Schindler Ps, Zurich Insurance, SGS, Richemont, Alcon, UBS Group, Lindt & Spruengli, Amrize and Logitech International lost 1%- 2.7%.

Galderma Group, up nearly 7%, was the lone gainer in the benchmark SMI index.

Data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, said Switzerland's unemployment rate remained stable in February after rising to the highest level in just over four-and-a-half years in January.

The unadjusted unemployment rate came in at 3.2% in February, the same as in the previous month, the data showed. In the corresponding month last year, the jobless rate was 2.9%.

Data showed that the seasonally adjusted jobless rate rose to 3% from 2.9%.