Swiss Market Ends Higher For 3rd Straight Day

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market ended on a positive note on Friday, extending gains to a third straight session, as optimism about interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve helped underpin sentiment.

The benchmark SMI started off on a slightly weak note, but ended the day's session modestly higher despite paring some intraday gains. The index ended up 26.43 points or 0.23% at 11,310.61, nearly 50 points off the day's high of 11,358.00.

Sika, the top gainer in the SMI index, climbed 2.83%. Holcim and ABB gained 1.68% and 1.65%, respectively. Geberit advanced 1.3% and Swiss Life Holdings ended 1.11% up.

Partners Group, Novartis, Roche Holding and Richemont ended higher by 0.4 to 0.6%.

Swiss Re ended down 2.56% despite reporting higher earnings. The company posted a significant rise in profit in 2023, mainly due to improved performance in its property-and-casualty reinsurance segment.

Logitech International, Nestle and Kuehne & Nagel lost 0.9 to 1%. Sonova drifted down 0.5%, while Lonza Group settled lower by 0.28%.

Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Swatch Group climbed 2.25%. Straumann Holding, SGS, Sandoz, Georg Fischer, Schindler Holding and Schindler Ps gained 1 to 1.4%.

Meyer Burger Tech ended down 5.2%. Temenos Group dropped 4.6%, while ams OSRAM AG ended lower by 1.47%.

Data released by the Federal Statistical Office showed industrial production in Switzerland fell 0.4% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2023, reversing from a downwardly revised 1.8% drop in the previous three-month period.