Swiss Market Ends Weak After Choppy Ride

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market ended on a weak note on Monday after spending much of the day's session in negative territory, as investors stayed wary of picking up stocks, choosing to wait for some clear directional clues.

With some crucial central bank meetings due this week, the mood in the market remained cautious right through the day. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower interest rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday. The Bank of England and the Bank of Japan, which are also scheduled to announce their policy decisions this week, are expected to hold rates unchanged.

The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 49.54 points or 0.41% at 12,144.32. The index, which advanced to 12,221.88 in early trades, touched a low of 12,125.65 in the session.

Sandoz Group closed down by about 2.3%. Sonova, Roche Holding, Swisscom, Straumann Holding, SGS and Nestle lost 1.4 to 1.7%.

Novartis, Schindler Ps, Geberit, Alcon, Holcim and Amrize closed lower by 0.9 to 1.2%. Sika, Adecco and Givaudan also ended weak.

Richemont climbed 2.7%, and UBS Group gained 2.35%. Partners Group, Logitech International and VAT Group ended higher by 1.44%, 1.35% and 1.21%, respectively.

Switzerland's producer and import prices dropped by 1.8% year-on-year in August, deepening from a 0.9% decline in the previous month. This marked the 28th consecutive month of producer deflation and the sharpest since December of last year.

On a monthly basis, producer and import prices went down by 0.6% in August, slipping further from a 0.2% fall in the preceding period.