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The Switzerland stock market ended on a buoyant note on Monday, as the mood remained upbeat right through the session amid rising optimism about global economic recovery.<\/p>\n
The passage of a $1.9 trillion coronavirus<\/span> bill in the U.S. Senate, and positive news about the progress in vaccination drive lifted sentiment. <\/p>\n The benchmark SMI ended with a handsome gain of 222.59 points or 2.1% at 10,830.38, slightly off the day’s high of 10,838.29.<\/p>\n All the components of the SMI index closed on the positive side. ABB, up nearly 4.5%, was the top gainer. Swatch Group gained 3.8%, while Richemont, Swiss Re, Swiss Life Holding and UBS Group gained 3 to 3.3%.<\/p>\n LafargeHolcim, Geberit, Novartis, Sika, Zurich Insurance Group, Givaudan and Swisscom movedup 2 to 2.8%, while Credit Suisse, Roche Holding and Lonza Group gained 1.5 to 1.8%. Alcon ended 1.1% up.<\/p>\n Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Flughafen Zurich, Vifor Pharma, OC Oerlikon Corp, Dufry and Georg Fischer gained 3.8 to 5.2%. Julius Baer ended nearly 4% up and Helvetial ended 3.8% up.<\/p>\n Adecco, BB Biotech, Clariant, VAT Group, Baloise Holding, Logitech, Galenica Sante and Cembra Money Bank also closed with strong gains.<\/p>\n Data released by State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said the Swiss unemployment rate inched down to a non-seasonally adjusted 3.6% in February from 3.7% in the previous month, as the number of unemployed people fell by 1,800, or 1.1%, to 167,953. <\/p>\n Meantime, the youth unemployment rate, measuring job-seekers between 15 and 24 years old edged down to 3.3% from 3.4%, with the number of young unemployed declining by 438, or 2.5%, to 17,328. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n