Swiss Market Ends Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - Despite opening on a negative note and staying weak till around mid afternoon, the Switzerland stock market ended on a fairly firm note on Thursday thanks to some strong buying at several frontline counters in the final hour of the session.

The benchmark SMI, which dropped to a low of 10,737.90 in early trades, ended the session with a gain of 44.68 points or 0.41% at 10,857.35.

Sonova surged 2.03% and Credit Suisse climbed 1.88%, while Lonza Group, Partners Group, Alcon and Swisscom gained 1 to 1.3%.

Logitech, Swiss Re, ABB, Givaudan, Sika, Swiss Life Holding, Geberit and UBS Group also ended on a firm note.

Shares of drug maker Novartis gained about 0.3% after the company said it will pay $245 million to end anti-trust cases over a U.S. generic drug.

Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Zur Rose gained 5.3%, rebounding after posting a sharp loss in the previous session. AMS surged 2.6% and VAT Group gained about 2.4%.

Bachem Holding, Temenos Group, Tecan Group, Straumann Holding, Lindt & Spruengli, Adecco, Belimo Holding and PSP Swiss Property gained 1.2 to 2%.