Swiss Market Ends Weak

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market ended weak on Friday, even as markets across Europe gained in strength on upbeat U.S. jobs data and rising optimism about U.S.-China trade negotiations.

Activity was mostly stock specific, with investors tracking company news for direction.

The benchmark SMI, which fell to 9,518.14 from early high of 9,571.69, ended the session with a loss of 22.56 points, or 0.24%, at 9,541.15.

Zurich Insurance ended 4.4% down. Geberit declined 1.45% and Richemont ended lower by 1.1%.

Sika moved up 1.2%. Givaudan, Swiss Life Holding, SGS, Nestle, LafargeHolcim and Lonza Group gained 0.3 to 1%.

Novartis edged up slightly. The company has sued Amgen, accusing it tried to wrongfully back out of agreements to jointly develop and market the migraine prevention drug Aimovig and keep the profits for itself.

EMS-Chemie Holding shares gained nearly 6% after the company said its net sales increased by 1.5% to 604 million Swiss francs in the first quarter.

AMS gained about 4.5% and Straumann Holding ended nearly 2.5% up. Dormakaba Holding advanced 1.5%.

Alpiq Holding gained nearly 7% after the company announced it will be back in the hands of Swiss shareholders.

Temenos Group shares rose nearly 1.5% following a rating upgrade by Credit Suisse.

Among the major markets in Europe, the U.K. ended notably higher, with the benchmark FTSE 100 gaining 0.61%. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 ended higher by 0.18% and 0.23%, respectively. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended up by 0.09%.

In U.S. economic news, job growth showed a substantial reacceleration in the month of March, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Friday.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 196,000 jobs in March after edging up by a revised 33,000 jobs in February.

Despite the stronger than expected job growth, the unemployment rate held at 3.8% in March, unchanged from February and in line with economist estimates.