After a slight uptick on Thursday morning, the Swiss market experienced a relatively stable period around the unchanged mark until mid-afternoon. It later experienced a gradual decline, concluding with a modest loss.
Investor sentiment was influenced by data indicating a more substantial increase than anticipated in U.S. consumer price inflation for September. Additionally, there was a rise in initial jobless claims in the U.S. for the week ending October 5th.
The benchmark SMI dropped by 45.17 points, or 0.37%, finishing at 12,077.78. The index had initially climbed to 12,150.68 during early trading but hit a low of 12,070.14 shortly before the market closed.
Lonza Group and Sika saw a decline of nearly 2% from their previous closing values. VAT Group fell by 1.71%, while ABB, Sonova, Partners Group, and Kuehne + Nagel experienced losses ranging from 1.25% to 1.6%.
Geberit, Holcim, Novartis, Alcon, Julius Baer, and Richemont also closed lower.
In contrast, Swiss Re increased by 2.75%. Sandoz Group and SIG Group ended the day with gains of 1.88% and 1.47%, respectively. Straumann Holding, Zurich Insurance Group, and Givaudan registered modest gains.
Shares of Flughafen Zurich edged higher following the company's report of a 4.6% year-over-year growth in passenger traffic for September. Additionally, the revenue of the Zurich Airport operator increased by 2.3% year-over-year to reach 57.1 million francs.
