Swiss Market Ends Moderately Higher
(RTTNews) - After opening marginally up, the Switzerland market held firm and ended on bright note on Friday thanks to sustained buying at several counters. Continued optimism about interest rate cuts in the second quarter by major central banks, including the Federal Reserve, helped underpin sentiment.
The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 71.77 points or 0.62% at 11,647.14, slightly down from the day's high of 11,649.99.
UBS Group gained 4.13% following a rating upgrade. Logitech International advanced about 1.5% and Sonova climbed 1.32%. Givaudan ended 1.1% up. Holcim, Sika, Geberit, Alcon, Nestle and Swiss Life Holding gained 0.4 to 1%.
Kuehne & Nagel dropped about 1.7%. Lonza Group, Partners Group and Zurich Insurance Group ended marginally down.
Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Julius Baer ended stronger by 3.56%. VAT Group climbed 2.7%, and Flughafen Zurich ended 1.88% up.
Tecan Group gained nearly 1.5%, while Georg Fischer, Helvetia and Straumann Holding advanced 1 to 1.1%.
ams OSRAM AG tanked 9.8%. Meyer Burger Tech drifted down 2.76%, while Sandoz and Avolta lost 1.9% and 1.76%, respectively.
