BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Swiss stocks tumbled on Monday, in line with the trend seen across global markets, as fears about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak intensified and prompted investors to press sales.
The benchmark SMI ended down 173.79 points, or 1.6%, at 10,675.96, about 36 points off the day's low of 10,639.75.
On Friday, the SMI ended up 35.81 points, or 0.33%, at 10,849.75.
Credit Suisse shares plunged by about 3.7%. According to reports, Switzerland's market supervisor is scrutinising Credit Suisse's oversight of chief executive Tidjane Thiam and his top lieutenants as part of a probe into corporate espionage.
LafargeHolcim and ABB both ended lower by about 3.3%. Richemont, Sika, Adecco, Swatch Group, UBS Group, Zurich Insurance Group, Swiss Life Holding and Swiss Re declined 2 to 3.4%.
SGS, Roche Holding, Swisscom and Alcon also ended sharply lower. Nestle ended nearly 1% down. The food giant has bought Allergan's AGN.N Zenpep, a product for people whose pancreases do not provide enough enzymes to properly digest fats, proteins and sugars.
Among the stocks in the Swiss Mid Price index, Bucher Industries shed about 4%. Logitech, VAT Group, Julius Baer, Georg Fischer, Dufry and AMS ended lower by 3 to 3.6%.
Flughafern Zurich, OC Oerlikon Corp, Temenos Group, Schindler Holding and Clariant shed 2 to 3%.
Among the other major markets in Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 declined 2.29%, Germany's DAX shed 2.74% and France's CAC 40 ended down 2.68%, while Switzerland's SMI declined 1.6%. The pan European Stoxx 600 tumbled 2.26%.
According to reports, the coronavirus outbreak has killed 81 people in China and infected more than 2,700 people globally.
China's National Health Commission said on Sunday that new coronavirus is contagious even its incubation period, which lasts up to 14 days, and that the virus' ability to spread is getting stronger.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX