Swiss Market Closes Higher Again

(RTTNews) - Except for a few minutes a little after the opening bell, the Switzerland stock market stayed positive on Wednesday to eventually sign off with modest gains.

Positive news on the coronavirus vaccine front and optimism about a stimulus in the U.S. contributed to the uptick.

The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 35.92 points or 0.35% at 10,430.02. The index, which dropped to a low of 10,378.52 in early trades, rose to 10,469.15 around mid-afternoon.

Swatch Group shares climbed 3.75%. Richemont gained about 1.75% and Swisscom gained 1.15%. Zurich Insurance Group advanced nearly 1%, while Nestle and Swiss Re gained 0.65% and 0.45%, respectively.

Roche Holding shares moved up by about 0.6%. The company announced a partnership with Moderna Inc. to utilize the Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 S antibody test in Moderna's ongoing mRNA-1273 vaccine research trials.

Lonza Group declined 1.1%, while LafargeHolcim and Givaudan lost 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively.

In the Mid Price Index, Dufry, AMS and Swiss Prime Site gained 2 to 2.5%. Lindt & Sp Ps gained nearly 2%, whle Schindler Holding and Schindler Ps moved up 1.6% and 1.5%, respectively. Helvetia, Temenos Group, Clariant and Barry Callebaut also ended notably higher.

Among the losers, Tecan Group slid 1.4%, Straumann Holding and Flughafen Zurich both ended lower by about 1.1%, and Sonova shed 0.65%.