The Switzerland market ended notably lower on Thursday, in line with markets across Europe, with investors largely tracking earnings updates, and making cautious moves amid uncertainty about the outlook for Fed interest rates.
The benchmark SMI ended down by 110.13 points or 0.97% at 11,260.61, about 25 points off the day's low of 11,345.29.
Straumann Holding ended down 2.59%. Givaudan ended lower by 2.02%.
Nestle shed 2.02% after the Swiss food and drinks giant missed first-quarter organic sales growth estimates. The company reported that its total sales for the first-quarter were 22.1 billion Swiss francs, a decrease of 5.9% from last year. Foreign exchange decreased sales by 6.7%. Net divestitures had a negative impact of 0.6%.
Quarterly group organic sales growth was 1.4%, driven by Europe and emerging markets, with a negative impact from North America. Pricing was 3.4%, following a high base of comparison in 2023.
Holcim, Swiss Life Holding, Lonza and Alcon lost 1.7 to 1.77%. Roche Holding, Sonova, Geberit, SIG Group, Swiss Re, Partners Group, Sika and Richemont ended lower by 1.1 to 1.6%.
Tecan Group lost nearly 4%. Georg Fischer, Temenos Group, Baloise Holding, Belimok Holding and Avolta also ended notably lower.
Novartis, Barry Callebaut, Lindt Spruengli and Swatch Group gained 0.7 to 1%. Meyer Burger Tech and ams OSRAM AG advanced about 2% and 1.5%, respectively.
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