Swiss Market Ends On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market ended on a bright note on Tuesday, in line with the trend seen across Europe, as hopes for U.S. coronavirus stimulus and news about Russia registering the first vaccine against the coronavirus pandemic lifted sentiment.

The benchmark SMI, which rose to 10,213.47 by mid-morning, pared some gains as the day progressed and finally settled at 10,153.24, up 62.33 points or 0.62% from previous close.

The pan European Stoxx 600 surged up 1.68%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 moved up 1.71%, Germany's DAX climbed 2.04% and France's CAC 40 jumped 2.41%, while Switzerland's SMI gained 0.62%.

Adecco shares surged up 4.25%. Swatch Group and Richemont both ended higher by about 3.15%. Alcon ended nearly 3% up, while Credit Suisse moved up 2.2%.

Swiss Re ended 2.4% up. Swiss Re AG said today that global insured property losses from disasters rose 34% on year in the first half mainly due to secondary perils, according to its institute's preliminary estimates. The company said global losses for the first half may be subject to an upward revision.

UBS Group, Swisscom and Swiss Life Holding ended higher by 1.5 to 1.6%, while ABB, LafargeHolcim, Novartis and Sika gained 0.8 to 1.2%.

Lonza Group shares tumbled 2.8%, and Givaudan ended nearly 1% down.

In the midcap section, Dufry soared nearly 9% and AMS gained 5.7%. Flughafen Zurich ended nearly 4% up.

OC Oerlikon Corp, Vifor Pharma, Georg Fischer, Julius Baer, Helvetia, Lindt & Spruengli, Temenos Group and Sonova gained 2 to 3%.