Swiss Market Ends Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market ended modestly higher on Wednesday after swinging between gains and losses amid cautious moves by investors.

While a report doubting the validity of U.S. biotechnology firm Moderna Inc's claim about a positive outcome of a clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine weighed on sentiment, optimism about economic recovery supported the market.

The benchmark SMI ended up 26.62 points, or 0.27%, at 9,790.85, after scaling a low of 9,716.75 and a high of 9,790.85 intraday.

Lonza Group shares surged up 2.65%. Alcon, Sika and Givaudan gained 2 to 2.3%.

Geberit and Swisscom moved up 1.4% and 1%, respectively. SGS, ABB, Adecco and UBS Group ended with modest gains.

Zurich Insurance Group declined 1.2%, while Nestle and Richemont shed 0.5% and 0.44%, respectively.

Roche Holding shares declined marginally. The company announced that its coronavirus antibody test is being used at several initial lab sites in the United States.

In the midcap section, Temenos Group, Partners Group, Kuehne & Nagel and AMS surged up 2.7 to 3%. Georg Fischer gained 2.4%.

Sonova, VAT Group, Schindler Holding, Schindler Ps, Straumann Holding, OC Oerlikon Corp, EMS Chemie Holding, Bucher Industries and Clariant gained 1 to 2%.

Dufry declined 4.8% and Helvetia ended down 1.75%.

Among the other major markets, the U.K., Germany and France ended with strong gains. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended up 1.08% and Germany's DAX advanced 1.34%, while France's CAC 40. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed up 0.98%.