BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Switzerland stock market ended notably lower on Friday after a somewhat volatile session, as investors appeared reluctant to make significant moves due to continued weakness in the U.S. market.
Concerns about surging coronavirus cases in several parts of the world, uncertainty about pace of economic recovery and another sell-off in U.S. technology space weighed on sentiment.
After a weak start and a subsequent recovery, the Switzerland stock market briefly slipped into negative territory around mid afternoon. Despite rising gain, the market faltered to eventually close in the red.
The benchmark SMI, which rose to 10,309.55 intraday, fell to a low of 10,091.88 before finally ending the session with a loss of 67.55 points or 0.66% at 10,153.09.
On Thursday, the SMI ended with a loss of 164.20 points or 1.58% at 10,220.64, falling almost 300 points from the day's high of 10,511.13.
Among SMI stocks, only ABB (up 1.25%), Sika (up 0.6%) and Swatch Group (up marginally) closed on the positive side.
Lonza Group shed 1.8%. Swiss Re, Credit Suisse, Adecco and Zurich Insurance Group lost 1 to 1.3%. Nestle, Roche Holding, Alcon and Swiss Life Holding also ended notably lower.
In the midcap section, Temenos Group declined more than 3.5%. Swiss Prime Site, Logitech, VAT Group, PSP Swiss Property, Kuehne & Nagel, BB Biotech, AMS and Vifor Pharma lost 1.6 to 2.6%.
Georg Fischer, Flughafen Zurich, Bucher Industries, Helvetia, Clariant and OC Oerlikon Corp ended higher by 0.5 to 1.1%.
Several markets across Europe ended with sharp to moderate losses today. Among the major indices, the pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 1.13%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 lost 0.88%, France's CAC 40 shed 0.89% and Germany's DAX fell 1.65%.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX