BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Swiss stock market weakened along with the rest of Europe at the start of the new trading week. Lingering concerns about global economic growth as well as continued uncertainty about trade between the U.S. and China weighed on investor sentiment.
The dollar also weakened ahead of the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement scheduled for Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another quarter point.
The Swiss Market Index decreased by 1.27 percent Monday and finished at 8,602.61. The Swiss Leader Index dropped 1.48 percent and the Swiss Performance Index lost 1.35 percent.
Among the index heavyweights, Novartis dropped 1.4 percent, Nestle fell 1.2 percent and Roche lost 0.7 percent.
Swatch Group declined 2.6 percent and rival Richemont surrendered 1.5 percent.
Zurich Insurance weakened by 2.1 percent, Swiss Life forfeited 1.4 percent and Swiss Re slid 1 percent.
Lonza tumbled 2.7 percent and Sika finished lower by 2.5 percent.
Engineering group ABB declined 1.8 percent after it agreed to sell 80.1 percent of its Power Grids division to Japan's Hitachi.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
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