Swiss Market Ends Marginally Higher Again

(RTTNews) - Despite spending much of the day's session in negative territory, the Switzerland market ended slightly higher on Tuesday as stocks found some support past mid afternoon and managed to climb above the flat line in the final hour.

The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 15.99 points or 0.14% at 11,784.07, after scaling a low of 11,697.77 and a high of 11,791.70 intraday.

Alcon climbed 7.53%, topping the list of gainers in the SMI index. Sonova surged nearly 7%. Logitech International gained about 3%.

SIG Group ended 1.79% up, while Richemont, Julius Baer, Swatch Group and Partners Group gained 1 to 1.26%.

Geberit, Lindt & Spruengli, UBS Group, Schindler Ps and Novartis posted moderate gains.

Lonza Group, Roche Holdings and Swiss Re ended lower by 1.74%, 1.61% and 1.38%, respectively. Sandoz Group, Givaudan, Swisscom, Zurich Insurance Group and VAT Group also ended weak.

On the economic front, data from the Federal Statistical Office showed Switzerland's producer and import prices grew 0.6% month-over-month in April, following a 0.1% rise in the prior month, mainly due to higher prices for petroleum products and watches.

Switzerland's producer and import prices fell 1.8% year-on-year in April, easing from a 2.1% drop in the previous month.