Swiss Market Ends Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market, which looked a bit slippery early on in the session on Monday, recovered and spent most part of the day in positive territory and eventually ended with modest gains.

Positive reaction to U.S. President's executive orders on coronavirus relief fund and recent encouraging U.S. jobs data contributed to the rise in stock prices.

Investors were also digesting Swiss employment data, and tracking news about U.S.-China tensions.

The benchmark SMI ended up 22.88 points or 0.23% at 10,090.91, after scaling a low of 10,061.19 and a high of 10,144.11.

Credit Suisse climbed more than 3%. Swiss Re and UBS Group ended higher by 1.85% and 1.7%, respectively. Zurich Insurance Group and Swiss Life Holding bother ended nearly 1.5% up, while Swisscom, LafargeHolcim and Adecco gained 0.8 to 1.1%.

On the other hand, Lonza Group and Alcon lost 1.45% and 1.3%, respectively. Sika, SGS and Givaudan ended with modest losses.

In the midcap section, Dufry soared 9%. Julius Baer, Swiss Prime Site, Flughafen Zurich and OC Oerlikon Corp gained 2 to 2.4%. Helvetia and Baloise Holding both ended lower by about 1.6%.

Logitech ended nearly 3% down. Temenos Group lost 2.4%, while AMS, VAT Group and Sonova ended lower by 1.5 to 1.9%.

In economic news, data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, showed Switzerland's unemployment rate remained unchanged in July.

The jobless rate came in at seasonally adjusted 3.3% in July, unchanged from June. Economists had forecast the rate to rise to 3.6%.

On an unadjusted basis, the unemployment rate held steady at 3.2% in July. The expected rate was 3.4%.

The unemployment rate among youth aged between 15 and 24 advanced to 3.4% from 3.3% in June.