FX.co ★ Swiss Market Ends On Weak Note; Swisscom Rallies Sharply

Despite some brief periods of positive performance during Friday's trade, the Swiss market predominantly showcased a weakening trend fueled by growing fears of inflation and uncertainty surrounding the Federal Reserve's possible decisions regarding interest rates.

The benchmark SMI ended Friday's trade by dropping 44.57 points, or 0.38%, settling at 11,676.13, which was the lowest of the day. At the beginning of trading, the index had managed to attain an early peak of 11,761.03.

In terms of SMI index constituents, Sonova emerged as the day's biggest casualty with a decline of 6.39%. It was closely followed by Lonza Group that fell nearly by 2%. Complementing them on the downward path were Alcon, Richemont, and Novartis, whose stocks dwindled by 1.79%, 1.62%, and 1.34% respectively.

Other companies such as Sika, Roche Holding, and Partners Group also ended trading on a mildly negative note.

Swisscom, however, rallied nearly 5% after receiving a boost from Vodafone Group Plc's announcement that it would be selling Vodafone Italy to Swisscom AG for a whopping 8 billion euro enterprise value.

Other gainers included UBS Group with an increase of 1.33% and Swiss Life Holding, Geberit, Logitech International, and Givaudan who notched up gains between 0.7 to 1.01%. Additionally, Swiss Re and Kuehne & Nagel recorded modest upticks.

In the Mid Price Index, Julius Baer, Straumann Holding, VAT Group and BKW all faced losses ranging from 1.55 to 2%. Companies such as SGS, Ems Chemie Holding, ams OSRAM AG, Sandos, and Georg Fischer also ended notably lower.

On a brighter note, Meyer Burger Tech rallied about 3.4%, marking a mild recovery from its recent losses. Also posting strong gains were companies like Avolta, Galenica Sante, Swiss Prime Site, SIG Group, Flughafen Zurich, Adecco, and Clariant.