The Swiss stock market finished with a modest loss at the start of the new trading week. In the past 2 weeks, the market has climbed by nearly 200 points. There has been some major news within those weeks to kindle that rally, including the ECB bond purchase plan, a major German court ruling and the announcement of QE3 by the U.S. Federal Reserve. With such a sharp rally over a short period of time, some profit taking was inevitable.
The Swiss market began the session somewhat lower, before climbing into positive territory. The market slipped back into the red in the afternoon, with some help from the disappointing Empire State manufacturing result from the United States.
The Swiss Market Index fell by 0.10 percent Monday and closed at 6,552.32. The Swiss Leader Index declined by 0.26 percent and the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.14 percent.
Cyclical stocks were under pressure Monday. Lonza was the largest decliner, with a decrease of 3.2 percent. Sika fell by 2.5 percent and Logitech lost 2.2 percent. ABB declined by 0.9 percent, after Berenberg downgraded its rating on the stock to "Hold" from "Buy".
Credit Suisse was the best performer among financial stocks Monday, with a gain of 1.6 percent. Julius Baer climbed by 0.6 percent and Swiss Life added 0.2 percent.
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