Swiss Market Ends On Bright Note

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market ended on a strong note on Thursday, thanks to positive global cues, and data showing a drop in producer and import prices.

The benchmark SMI, which moved in a tight band above the flat line till around mid afternoon, began climbing higher thereafter and ended the session with a strong gain of 121.94 points or 1.11% at 11,098.32, slightly off the day's high of 11,103.21.

Data from the Federal Statistical Office showed Switzerland's producer and import prices declined for the fourth straight month in August, dropping by 0.8% year-on-year in August, slightly faster than the 0.6% fall in the previous month.

The producer price index climbed 1% annually in June, while import prices registered a decrease of 4.1%.

On a monthly basis, producer and import prices dropped 0.2% in August versus a 0.1% rise in July. The monthly decline was largely attributed to cheaper costs for pharmaceutical products.

Kuehne & Nagel climbed 2.73%. Richemont, Novartis, Swiss Re, Holcim, Swiss Life Holding and Sonova gained 1.3 to 1.7%.

Zurich Insurance Holding, Roche Holding, Geberit and Sika advanced 1 to 1.25%. ABB, Givaudan, Partners Group and UBS Group gained nearly 1%.

Logitech, down 0.32%, was the only loser in the SMI index.

Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, DocMorris rallied nearly 4%. Schindler holding, Straumann Holding, Temenos Group and Tecan Group gained 1 to 1.25%.

Baloise Holding, Schindler Ps, SGS, Ems Chemie Holding, Swiss Prime Site, SIG Combibloc and Clariant also ended notably higher.

Flughafen Zurich drifted down more than 3%. Lindt & Spruengli ended 2.3% down, while Dufry, Adecco and Swatch Group posted modest losses.