Swiss Market Closes Marginally Higher

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market, which drifted down into negative territory around mid morning on Thursday after a positive start, emerged higher in late afternoon trade on selective buying and ended the session marginally up.

Amid mixed reports about the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and the likely economic impact due to the various restrictions imposed in several countries to curb the spread of the virus, the mood in the market remained cautious.

The benchmark SMI, which moved in a very tight range, advanced to 12,639.41 in early trades, and ended the session with a small gain of 10.20 points or 0.08% at 12,607.63. The index touched a low of 12,572.05 in the session.

Lonza Group shares climbed about 1.7%. Alcon and SGS gained 1.33% and 1.08%, respectively. Logitech advanced 0.87%, while Sika, Givaudan, Nestle and Swisscom gained 0.4 to 0.6%.

Holcim ended 1.6% down. Credit Suisse and Richemont both ended lower by about 1.4%. Zurich Insurance Group declined 1.1%.

Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Galenica Sante gained more than 2%. Lindt & Spruengli gained 1.8%, while AMS, Temenos Group, Cembra Money Bank, Kuehne & Nagel and Tecan Group closed higher by 1 to 1.5%.

Zur Rose declined more than 4%. Flughafen Zurich ended 1.6% down, while Vifor Pharma and Julius Baer both closed lower by about 1.25%.

In economic news, Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, on Thursday lowered the country's economic growth forecast for next year, but raised the inflation outlook.

The SECO cut the GDP growth forecast, with adjustments for sport events, for next year to 3% from 3.4% predicted in September.

The GDP growth forecast without adjustments was lowered to 3.2% from 3.6%.

The growth estimate, adjusted for sporting events, for this year was raised to 3.3% from 3.2%. The estimate without adjustments was lifted to 3.5% from 3.4%.

The inflation forecast for this year was raised to 0.6% from 0.5%. The price growth outlook for next year was lifted to 1.1% from 0.8%.