Swiss Market Ends Modestly Higher

The Switzerland stock market briefly tumbled into the red in early afternoon trades on Thursday, but recovered soon and ended the day’s session modestly higher on selective buying interest.

Optimism about strong economic recovery and a firm trend in markets across Europe lifted the market.

The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 34.31 points or 0.29% at 11,977.03. The index touched a high of 12,015.66 early on in the session, and dropped to a low of 11,901.86 about an hour past noon.

Swiss Life Holding, up 1.25%, was the top gainer in the SMI. Sika gained nearly 1%, while UBS Group and Credit Suisse both ended up by about 0.85%.

Swiss Re, Swatch Group, Partners Group and Roche Holding ended higher by 0.4 to 0.7%, while Givaudan, Geberit and Holcim ended modestly lower.

Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Dufry climbed 4.3%. Clariant moved up nearly 2.5% and Tecan Group gained 2%, while Vifor Pharma gained 1.8%. Flughafen Zurich, OC Oerlikon Corp and Adecco ended nearly 1% up.

Schindler Ps, Schindler Holding and Logitech ended lower by 1.8%, 1.2% and 0.8%, respectively.

Data released by the Federal Statistical Office showed Switzerland’s consumer price inflation remained stable in June, growing by 0.6% year-on-year, same as seen in May. Economists had expected 0.7%.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.1% in June, after a 0.3% increase in the previous month. Economists had expected a 0.2%.

The core CPI rose 0.3% yearly in June and remained unchanged from the previous month.

Preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office showed Switzerland’s retail sales increased by 2.8% year-on-year in May. On a monthly basis, seasonally adjusted retail sales declined 1.8% in the month.

In nominal terms, retail sales increased 2.3 percent annually in May and fell 1.9 percent from a month ago.