BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Switzerland stock market tumbled on Wednesday, in line with global markets after reports showing a surge in new coronavirus cases across the globe raised fears about a potential stronger wave.
The International Monetary Fund's report that significantly lowers the forecast for the global economy this year added to the woes.
The benchmark SMI ended down 224.57 points or 2.19% at 10,021.99, the day's low.
Alcon plunged nearly 6%. Credit Suisse and Swatch Group lost 4.2% and 3.7%, respectively. Swiss Re ended lower by about 3%. UBS Group, Roche Holding, Adecco, Zurich Insurance Group, Swiss Life Holding, Novartis, LafargeHolcim and Richemont lost 2 to 2.6%.
SGS, Nestle, Sika and Givaudan also ended sharply lower.
In the midcap section, Dufry ended lower by more than 6.5%. The company said it plans to reduce its personnel expenses by 20% to 30% this year, to tackles the plunge in sales caused by the new coronavirus pandemic.
Sonova shed 4.6%, while Julius Baer, Helvetia, Dorma Kaba Holding and Straumann Holding lost 3.5 to 3.7%.
Temenos Group declined by nearly 3%. Clariant, Vifor Pharma, VAT Group, Schindler Ps, Bucher Industries and Flughafen Zurich lost 1.4 to 2.5%.
On the other hand, AMS bucked the trend and climbed up as much as 6%. Sunrise Communications and Kuehne & Nagel gained 1.25% and 1.1%, respectively. Kuehne & Nagel said it has signed a multi-year agreement for managing Pearson Italy's logistics activities.
Among the other major indices in Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 plunged 3.11%, Germany's DAX shed 3.43% and France's CAC 40 declined 2.92% and Switzerland's SMI ended lower by 2.19%. The pan European Stoxx 600 tumbled 2.78%.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX