Swiss Market Ends On Firm Note After Choppy Ride

The Switzerland stock market, which faltered after a positive start Monday morning and struggled to move above the unchanged line till about mid afternoon, saw some brisk buying thereafter to eventually close on a firm note.

The benchmark SMI, which dropped to 12,110.40 after advancing to 12,200 in early trades, finally ended the session with a gain of 53.56 points or 0.44% at 12,193.81. The index touched a high of 12,214.34 in the final hour.

ABB, up 2.33%, was the top gainer in the SMI inde. Credit Suisse, UBS Group and Swiss Life Holding gained 1.5 to 1.75%.

Zurich Insurance Group and SGS advanced 1.32% and 1.27%, respectively. Holcim gained about 1%, while Novartis and Swiss Re advanced 0.7% and 0.52%, respectively.

Givaudan declined nearly 1%. Logitech, Lonza Group, Roche Holding an Richemont edged down marginally.

In the Mid Price Index, Clariant, Adecco, Julius Baer and Baloise Holding gained 1.8 to 2.3%. Dufry and Zur Rose moved up 1.55% and 1.33%, respectively.

Schindler Holding, Schindler Ps, Kuehne & Nagel, BB Biotech, Swiss Prime Site and Helvetia also closed notably higher.

Lindt & Spruengli Part, Lindt & Spruengli N, Straumann Holding, Flughafen Zurich, Georg Fischer and Tecan Group shed 1.4 to 3%.

On the economic front, Switzerland’s unemployment rate dropped in January, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, said on Monday.

The unemployment rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 2.3% in January from 2.4% in December. The rate was forecast to remain unchanged at 2.4%.

On an unadjusted basis, the jobless rate held steady at 2.6%, while economists’ had forecast the rate to rise slightly to 2.7%. The number of registered unemployed rose by 540 from the previous month to 122,268 in January.

The unemployment rate among youth aged between 15 and 24, held steady at 2% in January.

Data released by Swiss National Bank said foreign exchange reserves in Switzerland increased to CHF 947,150 million in January from CHF 944,532 million in December of 2021.