Swiss Market Ends Marginally Up

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market closed marginally up on Thursday, after spending much of the afternoon session in the red. Investors digested the nation's unemployment data, and looked ahead to some key economic reports from the U.S.

The benchmark SMI ended with a small gain of 7.18 points or 0.06% at 11,790.79. The index, which climbed to 11,816.25 around mid morning, dropped to a low of 11,755.74 by mid afternoon.

Roche Holding gained about 1.1% after the US Food and Drug Administration accepted its supplemental biologics license application for Columvi combined with gemcitabine and oxaliplatin to treat relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in patients who received at least one previous line of therapy and are not candidates for autologous stem cell transplant.

Zurich Insurance Group, Swiss Life Holding, Holcim, Swisscom and Kuehne + Nagel advanced 0.7 to 1.1%.

Julius Baer, Logitech International, UBS Group and SGS gained 0.48 to 0.56%.

VAT Group dropped 2.59%. Lonza Group, Sandoz Group, Geberit, Lindt & Spruengli, Richemont, Sika and Alcon lost 1 to 1.6%.

Straumann Holding and Sonova both closed nearly 1% down. Adecco and Nestle ended down 0.68% and 0.52%, respectively.

A report from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, said Switzerland's unemployment rate increased marginally in November after remaining stable in the previous month.

The unadjusted unemployment rate came in at 2.6% in November, up from 2.5% in October. In the corresponding month last year, the jobless rate was 2.1%.

The number of registered unemployed persons increased to 121,114 in November from 116,114 in the prior month.

The youth unemployment rate, which is applied to the 15-24 age group, remained stable at 2.6%.

Data also showed that the seasonally adjusted jobless rate stood at 2.6%, unchanged from October.