Swiss Market Ends Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market ended sharply lower on Friday as worries about a global recession following aggressive interest rate hikes by central banks rendered the mood extremely bearish.

The Swiss National Bank raised its key interest rate to positive territory on Thursday to counter the renewed rise in inflationary pressure. The central bank hiked the SNB policy rate by 0.75 percentage points to 0.5%, as expected. This was the second consecutive rate hike.

Following the move by the SNB, the interest rate turned positive for the first time since early 2015.

The bank also signaled further increases in interest rates in the coming months.

The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 159.87 points or 1.55% at 10,137.78, nearly 50 points off the session's low of 10,091.87.

Givaudan, up 2.5%, was the only stock from the SMI index to move into positive territory today.

Credit Suisse plunged 12.4%, hitting a record low, on reports that the bank is sounding out investors for fresh cash.

Swiss Life Holding, UBS Group, Alcon, Holcim and Zurich Insurance Group drifted down 3.4 to 5%.

Swiss Re, Sonova, Lonza Group, Logitech, ABB, Richemont, Geberit and Partners Group ended lower by 1.3 to 2.7%.

In the Mid Price Index, AMS and Zur Rose dropped 7.7% and 7.3%, respectively. Adecco, Georg Fischer, Temenos Group, Julius Baer, Helvetia, Clariant, Baloise Holding and Flughafen Zurich lost 2.5 to 4%.

The stock markets across Europe ended lower today. The pan European Stoxx 600 dropped 2.34%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX both ended 1.97% down, France's CAC 40 fell 2.28%, and Switzerland's SMI drifted down 1.57%.