After opening modestly higher and staying in positive territory till nearly a couple of hours past noon on Thursday, the Switzerland stock market slipped into the red and eventually ended the session on a weak note.
The benchmark SMI, which advanced to 11,162.20, ended the day with a loss of 23.95 points or 0.22% at 11,079.51, after drifting to a low of 11,162.20.
Swiss Re declined 1.55%, Geberit shed 1.25% and Novartis ended lower by 1.05%. Swiss Life Holding, Swatch Group, ABB, Credit Suisse and Roche Holding lost 0.8 to 1%.
Swisscom shares rallied 4.35% after the company said net profit for the quarter rose to 638 million Swiss francs ($701.6 million) from CHF395 million in the first quarter of 2020. Net revenue for the period climbed to CHF2.80 billion from CHF2.74 billion.
The company said that net profit and revenue for the first quarter increased, mostly due to a shareholding that its Fastweb business transferred as a capital contribution to a new fiber-optic network company in partnership with Italy’s Telecom Italia SpA.
Swisscom now expects 2021 net revenue of around CHF11.3 billion, and Ebitda between CHF4.3 billion and CHF4.4 billion.
Lonza Group gained about 2.5% and Partners Group gained 1.3%, while Nestle advanced 0.7%. UBS Group shares edged up marginally.
Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Clariant lost more than 4% after saying it expects to achieve moderate local currency sales growth in continuing operations in FY21.
Logitech ended nearly 4% down. Schindler Holding, Schindler Ps, Kuehne & Nagel, Cembra Money Bank and Vifor Pharma lost 1 to 1.6%.
Straumann Holding surged up 7.3%. Temenos Group shares gained 1.6%, while Sonova and Lindt & Spruengli moved up 1.05% and 0.8%, respectively.
Swiss Market Fails To Hold Gains, Ends Modestly Lower
2021-04-29 18:22:22
