Swiss Market Ends Marginally Down

The Switzerland market ended marginally down on Thursday, underperforming most of the other markets in Europe.

Investors digested the Swiss National Bank’s policy announcement, and assessed the Federal Reserve’s rate cut decision and weighed the future policy stance of the U.S. central bank following comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

The Swiss National Bank left its interest rate unchanged for the second straight meeting amid weaker inflation outlook.

The benchmark SMI, which drifted down to 12,867.05 in early trades, recovered and moved slightly below the flat line for much of the day’s session and finally settled at 12,905.17, down 16.31 points or 0.13% from previous close.

Straumann Holding climbed more than 4%. Amrize gained 3.33% and Kuehne + Nagel gained 2.63%.

Holcim and Julius Baer gained about 2%. UBS Group, Sika, Zurich Insurance, Swiss Re, Sonova and Novartis closed up by 0.5 to 1.3%.

Givaudan tanked 7.7%, weighed down by lower than expected fourth-quarter growth and a cautious sales outlook.

Galderma Group and Lonza Group lost 2.74% and 2.5%, respectively. Alcon closed lower by 1.59% and Roche Holding ended down 1.27%.

Partners Group, Lindt & Spruengli, SGS and Swisscom also ended notably lower.

The SNB maintained its policy rate at 0%, in line with expectations.

The central bank had reduced the key rate by 175 basis points since March 2024. The bank exited its negative rate in 2022 after holding it for over seven years.

The bank reiterated that it remains willing to be active in the foreign exchange market as necessary.

The bank said it will continue to monitor the situation and adjust its monetary policy if necessary, in order to ensure price stability.

Inflation outlook for 2025 was retained at 0.2%, while the forecast for 2026 was trimmed to 0.3% from 0.5% and that for 2027 to 0.6% from 0.7%. .

For 2025 as a whole, the SNB expects economic growth of just under 1.5%. For 2026, it expects growth of around 1%.