Swiss Market Ends On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market ended notably higher on Wednesday after staying firm right through the day's session.

Optimism about the Federal Reserve signaling a pause in policy tightening sometime soon helped underpin sentiment.

The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 82.86 points or 0.73% at 11,506.19, just below the day's high of 11,508.78.

Lonza Group surged 5.2%. Richemont, Alcon and Sonova gained 2.27%, 2.05% and 1.94%, respectively.

Nestle, Partners Group, Swiss Re, Geberit, Zurich Insurance Group, Swisscom, Holcim and Sika ended higher by 0.7 to 1.4%.

Swiss Life Holding ended lower by about 4.3%. UBS Group drifted down by about 2.7% and Credit Suisse lost nearly 2%, while Logitech ended 1.46% down.

Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Straumann Holding climbed nearly 6%. Tecan Group gained about 2.2%, while SIG Combibloc, Georg Fischer and Kuehne & Nagel gained 1 to 1.2%.

Zur Rose plunged more than 10%. AMS ended lower by 5.79%, Baloise Holding lost 3.97% and Helvetia closed 3.6% down. Adecco ended down 2.36%.