The Switzerland stock market closed on a positive note on Tuesday, in line with the trend seen across Europe, as optimism about economic recovery outweighed concerns about virus spread and slowdown in vaccine rollouts.
The benchmark SMI, which stayed in positive territory save for a very brief while around mid afternoon, ended the session with a gain of 31.82 points or 0.29% at 11,121.42. The index touched a low of 11,079.88 and a high of 11,138.11 in the session.
Swatch Group shares gained nearly 2.5%. Alcon moved up 2.4%. LafargeHolcim and Partners Group both ended higher by about 1.7%, while Zurich Insurance Group, UBS Group, Sika, Swiss Life Holding, Geberit and Nestle gained 0.7 to 1.2%.
Credit Suisse, which plunged 14% on Monday after a profit warning, slid more than 3% today. Lonza Group ended 2.85% down, while Novartis and Roche Holding ended lower by 0.6% and 0.2%, respectively.
Among the stocks in the Swiss Mid Price Index, Dufry and Straumann Holding gained about 3.5% and 3.2%, respectively. Flughafen Zurich, Adecco, Georg Fischer, Clariant, OC Oerlikon Corp and Kuehne & Nagel gained 1.5 to 2.6%.
Lindt & Spruengli, Sonova and AMS ended lower by 0.9 to 1.1%.
In economic news, a measure signaling future turning points in the Swiss economy climbed to its highest in over a decade in March, suggesting a faster pace of economic recovery in the coming months.
The economic barometer rose to 117.8 from a revised 102.6 in February, the KOF Economic Institute said Tuesday. Economists had expected the index to climb to 104.6.
The latest score was markedly above its long-term average of 100.
The latest improvement in the index was largely due to the indicators from the manufacturing industry. The other groups of indicators, both for domestic and foreign demand, all signal a positive development, albeit significantly weaker, the think tank said.
Swiss Market Ends Modestly Higher
2021-03-30 18:10:52
