Swiss Market Closes On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - Despite a slightly weak start and a mild setback after a modest recovery Monday morning, the Switzerland market climbed up gradually post mid morning and eventually ended the session on a firm note.

The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 91.81 points or 0.77% at 12,081.62, the day's high. The index declined to a low of 11,959.93 about an hour after the opening bell.

Partners Group climbed nearly 2.5%. Richemont gained more than 1.5%, while Swatch Group, SGS, Swisscom, Geberit, Givaudan and Swiss Re ended higher by 1 to 1.32%.

Roche Holding and Swiss Life Holding both gained nearly 1%. Lonza Group, UBS Group, Zurich Insurance Group, Sika and Alcon gained 0.6 to 0.8%.

Credit Suisse ended higher by 0.61%, rebounding after drifting down by about 1.6% early on in the session. An announcement from the lender that Floriana Scarlato has decided to leave the company with immediate effect to pursue a new challenge outside the bank weighed on the stock earlier in the session.

Among the stocks in the Swiss Mid Price Index, Sonova gained nearly 2.75%, SIG Combibloc, Swiss Prime Site and PSP Swiss Property gained 2 to 2.25%, VAT Group and Vifor Pharma moved up nearly 2%.

Straumann Holding, Julius Baer, Kuehne & Nagel, Ems Chemie Holding and Galenica Sante ended higher by 1.5 to 1.7%.

Flughafen Zurich, Dufry and AMS shed 2.2%, 1.7% and 1.4%, respectively. OC Oerlikon Corp ended nearly 0.5% down.