Swiss Market Closes On Upbeat Note

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market ended on an upbeat note on Wednesday, in line with markets across Europe, as optimism about earnings and growth triggered hectic buying at several counters.

The benchmark SMI, which opened with a strong positive gap surged to a high of 12,422.95 before settling at 12,367.82 with an impressive gain of 212.16 points or 1.75%.

Richemont climbed 4.1%. Alcon, Partners Group and Roche Holding gained nearly 3%. Logitech, Geberit, ABB and UBS Group advanced 2.25 to 2.5%.

Lonza Group ended nearly 2% up. Holcim, Credit Suisse and Sika gained about 1.75%, while Swiss Life Holding, Zurich Insurance Group and Swiss Re gained 1.1 to 1.5%.

Among the stocks in the Swiss Mid Price Index, AMS spurted 5.6%, extending gains from the previous session. VAT Group rallied 4.6%, Kuehne & Nagel climbed 4.3% and Swatch Group gained about 4.2%.

Julius Baer, Dufry, Sonova and Straumann Holding gained 3.3 to 4%. Temenos Group, Flughafen Zurich, Lindt & Spruengli, Zur Rose, Georg Fischer, BB Biotech, OC Oerlikon Corp, Tecan Group and Helvetia gained 2 to 4%.

In coronvirus update, Swiss health experts announced on Tuesday that the number of new infections had peaked in Switzerland. The government's Covid science task force said the reproduction growth rate had fallen below the crucial threshold of one, namely to 0.92 in the last week of January.

According to the health department, 26,761 new cases were reported on February 8 for the previous 24-hour period.