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After languishing in negative territory till a little before the final hour of the day’s trading session, the Switzerland market managed to emerge into positive zone on Friday but failed to hold firm and eventually settled with a marginal loss.<\/p>\n
Shares of pharma companies found some support on reports Switzerland has added a clause in its trade deal offer to the US that will give local drugmakers preferred treatment to avoid tariffs on exports.<\/p>\n
The benchmark SMI, which dropped to 11,874.07 around mid morning, settled at 11,972.41 with a loss of 5.95 points or 0.05%. The index touched a high of 12,046.30.<\/p>\n
ABB, UBS Group, VAT Group, Kuehne + Nagel, Adecco, Partners Group, Richemont, Sika and Julius Baer ended lower by 1 to 1.5%.<\/p>\n
Sandoz Group gained nearly 2%. Novartis and Amrize climbed 1.36% and 1.12%, respectively. <\/p>\n
Swisscom and Roche Holdings both gained nearly 1%. Lonza Group and Lindt & Spruengli posted modest gains.<\/p>\n
On the economic front, Switzerland’s unemployment rate held steady in June after falling slightly in the previous month, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, said.<\/p>\n
The unadjusted unemployment rate stood at 2.7% in June, the same as in May. In the corresponding month last year, the jobless rate was 2.2%. The youth unemployment rate, which is applied to the 15-24 age group, also remained stable at 2.5 percent.<\/p>\n
Data showed that the seasonally adjusted jobless rate rose to 2.9% from 2.8%. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n