Swiss Market Slips After Positive Start, Ends Moderately Lower

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market opened on a slightly positive note Tuesday morning, but slipped into the red after the first hour and then stayed weak right through the day's session, with investors shifting their focus to Fed's policy announcement, and U.S. consumer price inflation data, due later in the week.

The benchmark SMI, which advanced to 12,181.69 in early trades, ended down by 64.82 points or 0.53% at 12,072.92. The index touched a low of 12,031.82 in the session.

SIG Group ended down by about 4%. Kuehne & Nagel ended 2.88% down. Logitech International, Straumann Holding, Zurich Insurance Group, Lonza Group, Nestle and Richemont lost 1 to 1.4%.

UBS Group drifted down nearly 1%. The lender reportedly completed the transition to a single US intermediate holding company on June 7, as part of its integration of Credit Suisse. The group expects to merge its UBS Switzerland unit with Credit Suisse (Schweiz) as soon as July 1.

Alcon ended nearly 1% down. Geberit, Lindt & Spruengli, Swiss Re and Swisscom also closed notably lower.

VAT Group gained about 1.2%. Roche Holdings, Sonova and Partners Group posted modest gains.