Swiss Market Ends Higher For 2nd Straight Day

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market ended on a bright note on Friday, continuing to benefit from encouraging jobs data.

A firm trend across Europe contributed as well to the bullish mood in the Swiss market.

The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 135.23 points or 1.09% at 12,507.69, the day's high. The index ended with a gain of 0.42% on Thursday after data showed the nation's jobless rate dropped to 2.4% in March.

Swiss Life Holding rallied nearly 2.5%. Novartis surged up 2.25% and Credit Suisse gained 2.16%. Richemont, UBS Group, ABB and SGS ended higher by 1.7 to 2%.

Swiss Re, Partners Group, Swisscom, Holcim and Nestle moved up 1.1 to 1.5%, while Geberit and Roche Holding ended stronger by about 1% and 0.9%, respectively.

Zurich Insurance Group declined more than 2%. Lonza Group shed about 0.4% and Sika ended slightly weak.

In the Mid Price Index, Kuehne & Nagel and Schindler Holding surged up 3.5% and 3.2%, respectively.

Schindler Ps, Helvetia, Cembra Money Bank, Baloise Holding and Clariant gained 2 to 3%, while Dufry, Flughafen Zurich, Georg Fischer and Temenos Group advanced 1.4 to 1.8%.

Zur Rose ended 4.4% down. VAT Group shed 2.28%, while Tecan Group, Bachem Holding and Sonova lost 1 to 1.16%.