Swiss Market Ends Flat After Cautious Session

(RTTNews) - After a weak start and a subsequent fall to lower levels Friday morning, the Switzerland stock market recovered gradually on selective buying, but despite managing a brief spell in positive territory past mid afternoon, ended on a flat note.

The benchmark SMI, which eased to 12,520.79, ended the day at 12,607.73, down 0.10 points from the previous close, after climbing to a high of 12,637.24.

Alcon ended lower by 2.3%. Partners Group declined nearly 2% and Logiteh shed 1.7%, while Credit Suisse slid 1.28%. Geberit, UBS Group, Swiss Re and ABB lost 0.5 to 0.8%.

In the Mid Price index, Vifor Pharma, BB Biotech and Dufry ended lower by 3.25%, 2.8% and 2.3%, respectively. Logitech, VAT Group, Cembra Money Bank, Schindler Ps, AMS and Schinder Holding lost 1.1 to 1.7%.

Temenos Group, Ems Chemie Holding, Lindt & Spruengli and Zur Rose closed higher by 0.5 to 1%.

Roche Holding, Nestle, Sika and Givaudan posted modest gains.

The Swiss government has announced new measures to check the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The government today proposed two scenarios to deal with the situation. Accordingly, indoor public activities will be limited solely to vaccinated and recovered people, and the other one will see limited closures of restaurants and bars.