Swiss shares close lower tracking Wall Street losses, Roche weighs UPDATE

Swiss shares close lower tracking Wall Street losses, Roche weighs UPDATE

	Published : Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:47 By : Agencies Print this Story

(Updating with full report)

ZURICH (Thomson Financial) - Shares closed sharply lower tracking Wall Street which was weaker on oil price worries, and with Roche down almost 3 pct after its nine-month sales missed consensus forecasts.

At the close, the Swiss Market Index was lower by 1.3 pct, or 116.76 points, at 9,062.73 and the Swiss Performance Index fell 1.2 pct, or 88.51 points, to 7,395.12.

The euro fell to 1.6759 sfr and the dollar rose to 1.1826 sfr.

Wall Street traded in negative territory on worries about rising oil prices and a profit warning from telecommunications group Ericsson. This in turn triggered a sell-off on the Swiss equities market, said a Zurich-based trader.

Negative sentiment was compounded by disappointing nine-month sales figures from Roche, said a Bank Vontobel analyst. Roche was lower by 2.9 pct, or 6.20 sfr, to close at 210.50. Earlier, Roche posted nine-month sales of 33.9 bln sfr, falling short of analysts' consensus calling for 34.217 bln sfr.

Rival Novartis fell 1.3 pct, or 0.80 sfr, to close at 62.50.

The chemicals sector, heavily reliant on the price of oil, was down across the board, with Clariant losing 2.1 pct, or 0.33 sfr, closing at 15.20, and agro-chemicals group Syngenta down 1.1 pct, or 3.00 sfr, to close at 260.25. Earlier, Syngenta was cut to 'equal-weight' from 'overweight' at Lehman Brothers.

In financials, Swiss Re led the insurance sector down, falling 1.6 pct, or 1.70 sfr, closing at 106.90 as the market remains sceptical on the wisdom of its plans to acquire parts of UK-based Resolution Life. Zurich Financial was off by 3.00 sfr, closing at 359.75 and Baloise fell 1.1 pct, or 1.40 sfr, closing at 121.50.

Banks followed the downward trend, as Julius Baer lost 2.1 pct, or 2.05 sfr, to close at 96.35. Earlier, the group's CEO told the Financial Times that Julius Baer is a takeover target now that its founding family and UBS, which held a 20 pct stake, are no longer core shareholders.

UBS was 1.2 pct, or 0.80 sfr, lower to close at 66.50 and Credit Suisse was 0.55 sfr lower, closing at 79.95.

Selected blue-chip stocks outperformed the market, with Nestle easing 1.50 sfr down to close at 515.00, and Synthes adding 0.40 sfr to close at 137.40.

Outside the SMI, Sulzer was down 1.1 pct, or 18 sfr, to close at 1,648. Earlier, Sulzer posted a 27.50 pct increase in nine-monthly new orders to 3.177 bln sfr.

sarah.fenwick@thomson.com

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