Swiss Market Index shaky after Wall Street losses
The Swiss Market Index (SMI) reacted negatively on Friday to heavy losses on Thursday on Wall Street, falling 5.4 per cent to 5,110.2 points.
Stock exchanges in Frankfurt, London and Paris also registered sharp drops.
On Thursday, the Wall Street Index fell by 4.4 per cent, dropping to 8,376.21 points, evidence of growing fears about the current economic climate and military retaliation for the last week’s attacks on the United States.
There were also substantial losses on the Asian markets on Thursday, with a 2.4 per drop in the Nikkei Index.
“There’s such an uncertainty on the market since yesterday that no one knows what to do,” said Patrick Mange, a Eurozone specialist with the US investment bank Merrill Lynch.
On the Swiss stock exchange, the Basel-based speciality chemicals group, Clariant, registered the sharpest drop in share value, falling by 17.5 per cent early on Friday, to recover some ground during the day. The group’s share prices already fell by 15 per cent on Thursday.
On the currency market, the Swiss National Bank expressed its concern about pressure the Swiss franc by cutting the repo-rate by 20 basis points. Meanwhile, the euro fell to SFr1,44 on Friday, reaching another all-time low this week.
swissinfo with agencies
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