BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Swiss stocks edged lower on Tuesday, tracking weakness across Europe and in the U.S. market, amid renewed concerns about economic slowdown after the International Monetary Fund cut global growth forecast.
Disappointing results from UBS, and worries about U.S.-China trade dispute too weighed on the market.
The benchmark SMI ended down 45.07 points, or 0.5%, at 8,966.34. On Monday, the index ended down 12.55 points, or 0.14%, at 9,011.41, snapping a four-session winning streak.
UBS ended lower by more than 3% after its results fell short of expectations. The bank posted a net profit of $4.897 billion in 2018, as compared to net profit of $969 million in 2017. However, the profit in 2018 turned out to be lower than forecast for a $4.906 million earnings.
Julius Baer ended down nearly 2.5%, Lonza Group shed 1.75%, Geberit declined by 1.6% and Sika ended down 1.1%.
In economic news from Eurozone, the ZEW investor confidence measure for Eurozone edged up 0.1 point to -20.9. The current conditions index, meanwhile, shed 6.8 points to reach a level of 5.3 points.
The focus was on the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, were political and business leaders have gathered.
Apart from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, the IMF Chief Christine Lagarde and Britain's Prince William are also attending the Forum.
However, U.S. President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron will not be there.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX