SMI closes 0.37 percent lower after volatile session

The SMI ended Thursday's trading session lower after a volatile day in Zurich. The Swiss blue-chip index closed at 14,967.73 points at 17:30:28 local time, down 55.12 points, or 0.37 percent, from Wednesday's close of 15,022.85 points. The closing level and session range were reported by finanzen.ch using SIX Financial Information data.

Early record attempt fades

The SMI started Thursday above the previous session's finish and climbed to an intraday high of 15,092.56 points. It later fell to 14,947.41 points before recovering modestly into the close. The move followed a 1.9 percent gain on Wednesday, when the index first finished above 15,000 points. The SMI is the price index representing 20 of Switzerland's largest and most liquid equities, according to SIX.

Political optimism meets technology concerns

Earlier in the session, Swiss equities benefited from optimism following the Democratic victory in both chambers of the United States Congress and from hopes for diplomatic progress in the Iran conflict. A morning market report by finanzen.ch, citing market participants, said falling oil prices and expectations of a year-end rally supported risk appetite.

That support weakened as technology shares came under pressure in the United States. Market coverage cited renewed concerns about possible artificial-intelligence regulation and whether large technology investments will generate sufficient returns. Those concerns were reflected in the Swiss market's late-session performance, although a direct causal link between the external technology sell-off and each individual SMI move cannot be established from the index data alone.

Defensive gains, industrial pressure

Swiss Re rose 1.99 percent, followed by Sandoz at 1.80 percent and Lonza at 1.63 percent. Nestlé gained 1.55 percent and Sika advanced 1.26 percent. At the other end of the index, ABB fell 4.20 percent, UBS lost 3.37 percent and Logitech declined 3.28 percent. Amrize dropped 2.38 percent, while Partners Group was down 1.40 percent, according to the closing market report.

For investors, the session underscored the SMI's sensitivity to shifts in global risk appetite despite its sizeable healthcare and consumer-staples exposure. The index's next move will depend on how markets assess technology valuations, US policy risks and incoming economic data. Further SMI coverage is available on the SMI topic page.