On Wednesday, the Swiss stock market experienced an initial upswing but slid into negative territory for most of the day before closing with a slight loss, despite a minor recovery in the final hour of trading.
The leading index, the Swiss Market Index (SMI), closed with a decline of 16.23 points or 0.13%, settling at 12,147.10. Throughout the trading session, it reached a low of 12,107.05 and a high of 12,218.38.
Shares of Kuehne + Nagel, Straumann Holding, Logitech International, ABB, Adecco, Sika, and Partners Group saw declines ranging from 1.25% to 1.7%.
Meanwhile, the stocks of VAT Group, Schindler Ps, UBS Group, Sonova, Julius Baer, Swiss Re, Richemont, Holcim, and Lindt & Sprüngli registered losses between 0.6% and 1.1%.
In contrast, Roche Holding posted a gain of 1.84% after reporting third-quarter group sales of 15.14 billion Swiss francs, surpassing last year's 14.27 billion francs. The company retained its full-year 2024 outlook, anticipating a mid-single-digit percentage increase in group sales and a high-single-digit rise in core earnings per share (EPS) at constant exchange rates.
Additionally, Swatch Group achieved a gain of 1.32%, while SGS and Swisscom rose by 0.62% and 0.45%, respectively.
