The Swiss stock market finished solidly to the downside Thursday, putting an end to the strong gains it has enjoyed of late. Weak manufacturing data from China weighed on investor sentiment, as well as fears of a tightening on U.S. monetary policy, after comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.
In prepared remarks before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress on Wednesday, Bernanke seemed supportive of leaving monetary policy unchanged in the near future. However, Bernanke later acknowledged that upbeat economic data could lead the Fed to scale back its asset purchase program in the next few meetings.
The Swiss Market Index declined by 2.84 percent Thursday and finished at 8,168.52. The Swiss Leader Index fell by 2.83 percent and the Swiss Performance Index lost 2.74.
Financial stocks turned in a weaker performance Thursday. UBS fell by 3.8 percent and Credit Suisse dropped by 3.5 percent. Julius Baer also declined by 4.5 percent.
Luxury goods companies pulled back on the weak Chinese data. Richemont dropped by 5.0 percent and Swatch lost 3.1 percent. Cyclicals were also weak Thursday. Transocean fell by 4.2 percent and Geberit lost 3.4 percent. Lonza and Clariant both dropped by 3.2 percent.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com