"Following the steady march higher for equities this year, calls for a correction had been building"
- Jonathan Sudaria, a trader at Capital Spreads
Swiss stocks fell for a fifth consecutive day on Friday, after a report showed purchases of new homes in the U.S. declined.
The Swiss blue-chip index SMI, a measure of the largest and most actively traded companies, erased 0.15%, or 9.23 points, to 6,240.33. The broader Swiss Performance Index lost 0.09%, or 5.07 points, to 5,717.71.
"Following the steady march higher for equities this year, calls for a correction had been building," Jonathan Sudaria, a trader at Capital Spreads in London, wrote in e-mailed comments.
"Traders remain cautious about the possibility of this being the start of a deeper reversal in risk appetite."
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