Swiss Market Ends Higher For 5th Straight Session
(RTTNews) - Swiss stocks moved higher on Thursday, extending gains to a fifth straight session, thanks to strong buying at several counters. In addition to digesting Swiss producer and import prices data, investors looked ahead to corporate earnings updates.
The benchmark SMI settled with a gain of 219.58 points or 1.55% at 14,349.51, the day's high.
Lindt & Spruengli, up 6.3%, was the top gainer in the SMI index. Alcon, Lonza Group and Swisscom gained 3.1%-3.3%.
Givaudan, Zurich Insurance, Nestle and Novartis climbed 2.6%-3.25%. Roche, Amrize, Sandoz Group, Swiss Re, Geberit, Sika, Straumann Holding, Sonova, Kuehne + Nagel, Helvetia Baloise Holding, Logitech International and Swiss Life Insurance moved up 1.2%-3%.
VAT Group closed lower by 1.8% despite the company reporting higher sales in the third-quarter.
ABB drifted down 3.4%. Julius Baer and Holcim ended with modest losses.
Data released by the Federal Statistical Office showed Switzerland's producer and import prices increased for the second straight month in September, with the index rising 0.3% in the month, slower than the 0.7% climb in August. That was slower than the 0.6% rise expected by economists.
The producer price index decreased 1.2% from last month, while import prices rose 2.1%.
On an annual basis, the decline in producer and import prices eased to 0.2% from 0.7%.
