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After a positive start, the Switzerland market suffered a mild setback and slipped slightly below the flat line Thursday morning, but recovered swiftly and stayed firm thereafter to finally end the day’s session modestly higher.<\/p>\n
The benchmark SMI closed up by 50.17 points or 0.42% at 12,049.13.<\/p>\n
VAT Group climbed nearly 9.5%. Sonova, Kuehne + Nagel, Richemont, Partners Group and ABB gained 1.1 to 1.7%.<\/p>\n
Lindt & Spruengli, Schindler Ps, Holcim, Zurich Insurance, Sika, Swiss Re, Nestle and UBS Group posted moderate gains.<\/p>\n
SIG Group shares tumbled nearly 25% after the packaging group issued a profit warning for 2025 and suspended its cash dividend<\/p>\n
Amrize closed almost 4% down. Adecco ended lower by 2.3%, while Swisscom, Swatch Group, Sandoz Group, SGS and Julius Baer lost 1 to 1.4%.<\/p>\n
In economic news, Switzerland’s foreign trade surplus decreased in August as exports fell amid an increase in imports, data from the Federal Customs Administration showed.<\/p>\n
The trade surplus dropped to CHF 3.9 billion in August from CHF 4.2 billion in July.<\/p>\n
In nominal terms, exports dropped 1% monthly in August, while imports rose by 0.4%. In real terms, both exports and imports rebounded by 2.4% and 0.6%, respectively.<\/p>\n
Shipments of watches and jewelry items plunged 7.5% over the month, and those of clocks declined by 8.6%.<\/p>\n
According to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, watch exports fell sharply by 16.5% year-on-year in August. Watches made from precious metals logged the worst exports, which slumped by 17.3%. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n