The Switzerland stock market ended on a firm note on Thursday, extending recent gains, amid optimism about growth.
Investors also digested the Swiss National Bank’s monetary policy statement. The central bank left its expansionary monetary policy unchanged in order to ensure price stability and underpin economic recovery from the coronavirus-driven downturn.
The benchmark SMI, which moved in a very tight band between 11,905.00 and 11,978.42, ended with a gain of 101.05 points or 0.85% at 11,938.62.
Richemont climbed 3.4% and Logitech gained 2.6%. Credit Suisse advanced nearly 2%, while UBS Group, ABB, Givaudan and Partners Group gained 1.2 to 1.3%.
Swiss Life Holding, Holcim, Alcon, Novartis, Roche Holding and Sika also ended notably higher.
In the Mid Price Index, AMS climbed 3.6%. Zur Rose, VAT Group, Logitech and Tecan Group gained 2.5 to 2.8%.
Straumann Holding, Dufry, Julius Baer, PSP Swiss Property, Swatch Group and Ems Chemie Holding also closed with strong gains.
Adecco, Lindt & Spruengli, Flughafen Zurich and Temenos Group ended notably lower.
Policymakers of the central bank decided to retain the policy rate and interest on sight deposits at the SNB at -0.75%.
The Swiss central bank reiterated that it is willing to intervene in the foreign exchange market as necessary, in order to counter upward pressure on the Swiss franc. The bank repeated that the Swiss franc remains highly valued.
Citing higher prices for oil products as well as for goods affected by supply bottlenecks, the bank raised its inflation forecast.
The inflation forecast for 2021 was upgraded to 0.5 from 0.4% and that for 2022 to 0.7% from 0.6%. Inflation is seen at 0.6% in 2023, unchanged from the prior estimate.
The bank observed that economic growth momentum has slowed somewhat. The SNB expects GDP growth of around 3% for 2021. In June, the SNB had assumed a higher growth of around 3.5%.
Swiss Market Ends Higher For 3rd Straight Day
2021-09-23 17:17:27
