Swiss Market Ends On Firm Note On Positive Global Cues

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market briefly slipped into negative territory a little before noon on Friday, but recovered and gained in strength as the session progressed to eventually close on a bright note.

Signs of progress in U.S. debt ceiling talks helped lift sentiment.

The benchmark SMI, which dropped to 11,313.88 around noon, ended with a gain of 108.98 points or 0.96% at 11,434.24, about 30 points off the day's high.

Logitech gained nearly 2.5%. Richemont, Sika and ABB climbed 2.08%, 1.82% and 1.57%, respectively.

UBS Group, Swiss Re, Givaudan, Swiss Life Holding, Lonza Group, Geberit, Alcon, Roche Holding, Zurich Insurance Group and Credit Suisse gained 1 to 1.4%.

Partners Group declined nearly 2%, and Swisscom ended lower by about 0.4%.

Among the stocks in the Swiss Mid Price Index, VAT Group surged nearly 4% and AMS gained 3.1%, while Georg Fischer climbed 2.87%.

Bachem Holding, Kuehne & Nagel, Flughafen Zurich and Straumann Holding gained 2.2 to 2.6%. SIG Combibloc, Belimo Holding, Baloise Holding, Schindler Ps and Swatch Group also ended notably higher.

In economic news, data from Swiss Federal Statistical Office showed Switzerland's non-farm payrolls increased 2.2% year-on-year to 5.389 million in the first quarter of 2023, slightly lower than the 2.3% rise in the previous three-month period.