Swiss Market Ends On Firm Note

The Switzerland market shrugged off early weakness and moved higher on Thursday, with several big stocks attracting sustained buying interest.

The benchmark SMI, which dropped to 10,770.87 in early trades, ended the day’s session with a gain of 51.44 points or 0.48% at 10,854.32, off the day’s high of 10,871.03.

UBS Group climbed more than 3%, topping the list of gainers in the SMI index. ABB and Logitech International gained 1.82% and 1.57%, respectively.

Givaudan, Alcon, Partners Group, Holcim, Geberit, Zurich Insurance Company and Swiss Re ended higher by 0.5 to 0.85%.

Among the stocks in the Swiss Mid Price Index, ams OSRAM AG rallied 6.25%. VAT Group gained 4.5% and Baloise Holding climbed 3.16%. BKW ended higher by 2.32%.

Julius Baer gained nearly 2%. Temenos Group and Helvetia ended higher by 1.51% and 1.35%, respectively. Ems Chemie Holding and PSP Swiss Property both ended nearly 1% up.

Sandoz ended 3.7% down. Straumann Holding drifted down 1.43%, while Meyer Burger Tech and Avolta ended down 1.16% and 1.1%, respectively.

On the economic front, data from the Federal Statistical Office showed retail sales in Switzerland fell 0.1% year-on-year in October, easing from an upwardly revised 1.2% fall in the previous month. Although it was the fourth straight decline, the drop was the softest in the sequence.

A report from the Swiss Economic Institute said the leading KOF economic barometer increased to 96.7 in November, the highest reading since April, from a downwardly revised 95.1 in October.