Swiss stocks posted a weak performance on Tuesday, primarily influenced by concerns regarding the Federal Reserve's interest rate outlook. Investor sentiment was impacted ahead of a key U.S. personal income and spending report, which includes the Fed's preferred inflation metrics, due later this week.
Adding to the apprehension were figures indicating an acceleration in Germany's headline inflation.
The benchmark SMI declined by 60.77 points, or 0.51%, finishing at 11,793.73, slightly above the day's low of 11,783.62.
In Swiss economic news, a report from UBS & CFA Society highlighted that the Swiss UBS investors' sentiment gauge increased to 18.2 in May 2024 from 17.6 in April. This marks the seventh consecutive period of improvement and the highest level observed since September 2021.
Notable decliners included SIG Group, Swatch Group, and Lonza Group, which fell between 2.5% and 2.8%. Sandoz Group slipped by approximately 2.2%, while Lindt & Sprüngli and Schindler Ps each dropped nearly 2%.
Other prominent losers included SGS, UBS Group, Swiss Life Holding, Geberit, Richemont, Alcon, Partners Group, Holcim, and Straumann Holding, with declines ranging from 0.9% to 1.6%. Julius Baer, Novartis, and VAT Group also ended significantly lower.
ams OSRAM AG saw a steep decline of 5.2%. Barry Callebaut, Georg Fischer, Meyer Burger Tech, Adecco, Temenos Group, and Galenica Sante also experienced notable drops.
Conversely, Swiss Re gained approximately 1.4%, while Zurich Insurance Group, Logitech International, and Roche GS posted modest gains.