Swiss Market Ends On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market shrugged off a negative start and a subsequent weak spell that lasted till about a couple of hours past noon, and ended on a firm note on Monday with stocks finding support in late afternoon trades.

The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 47.34 points or 0.42% at 11,379.64, after scaling a low of 11,287.93 and a high of 11,397.53 intraday.

Nestle and Swisscom gained 1.5% and 1.42%, respectively. Sonova, Swiss Re, Givaudan, Novartis and Alcon advanced 0.6 to 0.8%.

Lonza Group, Holcim, UBS Group and Zurich Insurance Group posted modest gains.

Credit Suisse drifted down nearly 2%. Partners Group ended lower by about 1.25%, while Logitech ended 0.74% down.

In the Mid Price Index, Barry Callebaut climbed 1.8%, while Lindt & Spruengli and SIG Combibloc both gained nearly 1%.

Straumann Holding ended nearly 3% down. AMS, Zur Rose and Flughafen Zurich lost 2.2 to 2.6%.

VAT Group, Bachem Holding and Julius Baer ended lower by 1.6%, 1.5% and 1.1%, respectively.

A leading indicator for Switzerland's economy rose at the start of the year, for a second month in a row, to its highest level in seven months reflecting a less gloomier outlook, survey data from the Zurich-based KOF Swiss Economic Institute showed Monday.

The KOF Economic Barometer gained 5.7 points to reach a level of 97.2 in January. Economists had forecast a score of 93.3. The December reading was revised to 91.5 from 92.2.

The January score was the highest since June last year, when the reading was 98.1.