Swiss Market Ends Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market ended modestly higher on Thursday after holding firm right through the day's session, with investors digesting Swiss GDP data.

The benchmark SMI, which moved in a tight band between 11,418.45 and 11,486.43, ended with a gain of 24.48 points or 0.21% at 11,438.86.

Holcim gained nearly 2%. Richemont climbed about 1.5% and Kuehne & Nagel gained 1.05%. ABB advaned nearly 1%.

Swiss Re, Sika, Alcon and Swiss Life Holding gained 0.7 to 0.8%. Swisscom and Roche Holding also closed higher.

Logitech International ended down 0.84%. Novartis, Lonza Group and Nestle ended lower by 0.3 to 0.6%.

In the Mid Price Index, Temenos Group climbed nearly 2.5%. SIG Combibloc gained 1.86% and Julius Baer advanced 1.35%. Helvetia, SGS and VAT Group also closed on firm note.

Shares of AMS-OSRAM AG tanked 39% after the Swiss chipmaker said a customer canceled a key project that could force it to sell part of its Malaysian production site.

Meyer Burger Tech plunged 14.4%. Adecco drifted down more than 5%. Straumann Holding, Avolta, Clariant, Tecan Group, Swatch Group and Lindt & Spruengli lost 1 to 2%.

An indicator of the turning points in the Swiss economy declined for the first time in four months in February, yet remained positive reflecting the brighter outlook for the manufacturing and construction sectors, results of a monthly survey by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute showed.

The KOF Economic Barometer fell to 101.6 in February from a revised 102.5 in January. That was in line with economists' expectations. The reading remained above average.

Data published by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) showed Swiss gross domestic product grew 0.3% sequentially in the fourth quarter, the same rate as seen in the third quarter.

The economy continued its below-average growth. However, this was faster than economists' forecast of 0.1%.

On a yearly basis, GDP posted an expansion of 0.6%, which was faster than the 0.4% rise in the preceding period. GDP was expected to advance 0.7%.

GDP growth in 2023 was 1.3% after 2.5% in the previous year. The slowdown was related to the process of normalization following the COVID-19 crisis.