Swiss Market Ends Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market closed modestly higher on Wednesday, recovering gradually from early lows and moving into positive territory in the final hour thanks to some strong buying at select counters.

The mood remained cautious amid lingering worries about inflation and fears of sharp interest rate hikes by global central banks.

The benchmark SMI, which dropped to 10,349.65 in early trades, ended the session with a gain of 48.50 points or 0.46% at 10,528.34, slightly off the day's high of 10,543.01.

Nestle climbed about 1.85%. Roche Holding ended nearly 1.5% up, and SGS ended higher by about 1.3%. Partners Group and Givaudan both gained about 0.9%.

Lonza Group, Swisscom, Alcon and UBS Group posted modest gains.

ABB, Logitech and Swiss Life Holding shed 2.2%, 1.9% and 1.7%, respectively. Holcim ended nearly 1% down.

In the Mid Price Index, Temenos Group rallied 3.27%. Sonova and Galenica Sante surged up 2.62% and 2.27%, respectively. Tecan Group, SIG Combibloc, Lindt & Spruengli and PSP Swiss Property gained 1.5 to 1.81%. Swiss Prime Site ended nearly 1% up.

Zur Rose, Kuehne & Nagel and Schindler Ps ended lower by 3.7%, 2.7% and 2.62%, respectively. Schindler Holding, Julius Baer and AMS shed 1.7 to 2%.

Clariant ended lower by 1.5%, recovering after sliding by about 0.5%. The specialty chemicals firm said it intends to slim down the number of business units from five to three.

A report from the Swiss National Bank said Switzerland recorded a Current Account surplus of CHF 19.05 billion in the first quarter of 2022, widening from the CHF 14.8 billion surplus in the corresponding period of the previous year.