Swiss Market Ends Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - After spending a few minutes in positive territory in early trades on Tuesday, the Switzerland market retreated and spent the rest of the day's session in the red, as geopolitical tensions, interest rate uncertainty and concerns about the outlook for global economic growth rendered the mood bearish.

An escalation in Russia - Ukraine war, and news about Russian President Vladimir Putin updating the country's nuclear weapons doctrine hurt sentiment.

Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the updated doctrine says Russia "reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression with the use of conventional weapons against it or the Republic of Belarus, which creates a critical threat to sovereignty or territorial integrity."

"Aggression against the Russian Federation by any non-nuclear state with the participation or support of a nuclear state is considered a joint attack," Peskov added, according to NBC News.

The benchmark SMI closed down 98.17 points or 0.84% at 11,541.43, well off the session's low of 11,428.87. The index advanced to 11,709.23 in early trades.

Sonova closed down 5.21%. Swatch Group drifted down 2.21%, while Nestle and Richemont both closed nearly 2% down.

Julius Baer, Adecco, Partners Group, Logitech International, Roche Holding, Alcon and Sika lost 1 to 1.7%. Swisscom, SGS, Geberit, Swiss Life Holding, ABB and UBS Group also closed weak.

Givaudan gained about 1.5%. Lonza Group closed up 1.14%, while SIG Group and Straumann Holding ended marginally up.

Switzerland's foreign trade surplus decreased somewhat in October amid a surge in exports, data from the Federal Customs Administration showed.

The trade surplus rose to CHF 5.97 billion in October from CHF 4.03 billion in September.

In real terms, exports jumped 11.2% over the month, reversing a 2.3% decrease in September. Imports increased at a stable rate of 0.7%. In nominal terms, both exports and imports grew by 10.2% and 1.8%, respectively.

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