Swiss Market Ends At New Record High

(RTTNews) - After a flat start and a subsequent modest upmove, the Switzerland market struggled a bit around mid morning on Friday, but recovered swiftly and then stayed firm right till the end the day's trading thanks to sustained buying at several frontline counters.

The benchmark SMI settled with a gain of 71.00 points or 0.53% at 13,421.82, a new record high.

Amrize, up 3.13%, was the top gainer in the SMI index. VAT Group gained 2.4%, while Partners Group, Kuehne + Nagel, ABB, Sika and Nestle gained 1.4 to 2%.

Logitech International, Richemont, Galderma Group, Holcim and SGS also closed notably higher. Givaudan, UBS Group, Roche Holding and Geberit posted moderate gains.

Zurich Insurance closed nearly 2% down. Swiss Life Holding drifted down by 1.72%, while Alcon and Swiss Re lost 1.33% and 1.2%, respectively.

Data released by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, showed Switzerland's unemployment rate increased in December to the highest level in just over four-and-a-half years.

The unadjusted unemployment rate came in at 3.1% in December, up from 2.9% in November, the data showed.

In the corresponding month last year, the jobless rate was 2.8%.

Data showed that the seasonally adjusted jobless rate also remained stable at 3% as expected.