Swiss Market Ends On Bright Note

The Switzerland market ended on a bright note on Monday with stocks holding early gains thanks to sustained buying right through the day’s session. Investors digested the nation’s producer price inflation data and looked ahead to the European Central Bank’s monetary policy announcement.

The SMI closed up 105.04 points or 0.86% at 12,259.23, after scaling a low of 12,176.38 and a high of 12,266.58 intraday.

VAT Group gained a little over 3% and Lonza Group ended almost 3% up. Logitech International climbed 2.62% and UBS Group ended up 2.05%.

Givaudan ended higher by 1.67%, while Swiss Re, ABB and Sandoz Group gained 1.3 to 1.5%. SGS, Partners Group, Holcim, Kuehne + Nagel, Sonova, Alcon and Novartis ended up 0.8 to 1.2%.

Sika, Swiss Life Holding, Swisscom, Schindler Ps, Julius Baer, Straumann Holding, Zurich Insurance Group and Geberit also closed on a firm note.

Swatch Group ended nearly 2.5% down. SIG Group closed down 0.93% and Richemont ended 0.42% down.

Shares of industrial fastening and assembly technology company Bossard plunged more than 8% following a year-over-year drop in third-quarter group net sales to 240.4 million francs from 249.8 million francs. The company also anticipates sales in the fourth quarter to remain subdued.

Data from the Federal Statistical Office showed Switzerland’s producer and import prices continued to decline in September, falling by 1.3% year-on-year, slightly faster than the 1.2% decline in August. Prices have been falling since May 2023.

The producer price index dropped 0.2% annually in September, and import prices registered a decrease of 3.5%.

On a monthly basis, producer and import prices edged down 0.1% in September versus a 0.2% rise in August. The monthly decrease was driven by lower prices for mineral oil products.