Swiss Market Ends On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - After a weak start and a subsequent struggle for support Wednesday morning, the Switzerland market edged higher in late morning trade and kept moving up as the day progressed to finally end the session on a strong note.

The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 111.94 points or 0.93% at 12,122.93, the day's high. The index touched a low of 11,988.06 in early trades.

Sandoz Group rallied 4.52%. Julius Baer gained nearly 3.5% and SIG Group ended 2.2% up. Adecco, Swiss Re, Swatch Group, Novartis and Partners Group ended higher by 1.6 to 2%.

UBS Group, Richemont, ABB and Holcim closed higher by 1 to 1.5%. Roche Holding, Nestle, Alcon, Swiss Life Holding, Lonza Group, Swisscom and Sonova also ended on a firm note.

Straumann Holding ended down 1.35%. VAT Group, Kuehne + Nagel, Givaudan, Geberit, Sika and Lindt & Spruengli also closed weak.