Swiss Market Ends Higher Again

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market briefly fell into negative territory around mid morning on Wednesday after a positive start, but recovered swiftly and then held its course to end the session modestly higher.

Data showing an improvement in Swiss investors sentiment contributed to the positive undertone.

The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 25.35 points or 0.22% at 11,705.71.

The Swiss investors' sentiment index went up by 1.3 points from the previous month to 11.5 in March 2024, marking the the highest reading since October 2021, a report from UBS & CFA Society showed. The Swiss National Bank's decision to lower its interest rate by 25 bps to 1.5% contributed to the improvement in sentiment.

Meanwhile, the current conditions index also surged to 11.1 from 2.5 in February.

Sonova climbed 1.86%. Richemont and Swisscom gained 1.34% and 1.2%, respectively. Kuehne & Nagel, Alcon, Swiss Life Holding, Novartis, Swiss Re and Nestle ended higher by 0.5 to 0.7%.

Logitech International ended down nearly 3%. Sika drifted lower by about 0.8%, while ABB, Givaudan and Partners Group ended modestly lower.

In the Mid Price Index, Meyer Burger Tech zoomed nearly 25%. BKW rallied 4.5%, while Swatch Group, Straumann Holding, Baloise Holding, Helvetia, Clariant, PSP Swiss Property and Avolta gained 1 to 2.2%.

Temenos Group, Belimo Holding, VAT Group and Ems Chemie Holding ended lower by 1 to 1.4%.