The Switzerland stock market faltered after a positive start, and after spending much of the session in the red thereafter, ended modestly lower on Monday.
While optimism about potential coronavirus vaccines supported stocks early on in the session, worries about rising cases weighed on sentiment and dragged down prices.
The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 31.25 points or 0.3% at 10,464.40. The index, which advanced to 10,553.32 early on, touched a low of 10,453.91 around mid afternoon.
Last week, after closing on a firm note on Monday, the market ended the next three sessions lower before recording a small gain on Friday.
Nestle shed about 2%. Givaudan, Sika and Lonza Group ended lower by 1.2 to 1.5%, while Roche Holding, Partners Group, Swisscom and Geberit lost 0.5 to 0.8%.
Among the gainers in the SMI, Swiss Re and Credit Suisse both ended higher by about 2.25%. Zurich Insurance Group gained nearly 2%, while UBS Group and Swiss Life Holding moved up 1.7% and 1.45%, respectively.
In the midcap section, Vifor Pharma, Galencia Sante, Tecan Group, Lindt & Spruengli and Logitech lost 2 to 2.8%.
SIG Combibloc, Lindt Sp & Ps, Barry Callebaut, Dufry and Sonova also ended notably lower.
On the other hand, AMS climbed nearly 3%. Flughafen Zurich, OC Oerlikon Corp, Cembra Money Bank, Addeco and Julius Baer gained 1.5 to 2%, while Helvetia ended 1% up.
In coronavirus news from Switzerland, data from the country's health authorities showed coronavirus infections rose by 9,751 since Friday. With this, the total number of confirmed cases in Switzerland and neighbouring principality Liechtenstein increased to 300,352. The country saw 410 new hospitalisations since Friday.
Meanwhile, after recent positive updates from Pfizer and Moderna, there is something more to cheer on the vaccine front now, with AstraZeneca and Oxford University announcing today that their vaccine for the novel coronavirus could be around 90% effective under one dosing regimen.
The FDA's outside advisers are slated to meet on Dec. 10 to review Pfizer's emergency-use application for its vaccine.
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