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Despite opening weak and struggling to move higher till about a couple of hours past noon, the Switzerland stock market ended on a positive note on Thursday, with select top counters attracting buyers in late afternoon trades.<\/p>\n
The benchmark SMI ended the day with a gain of 51.27 points or 0.47% at 10,973.76 slightly off the day’s high of 10,983.23.<\/p>\n
UBS Group shares gained nearly 4%. Richemont and Credit Suisse both ended higher by a little over 2.5%. Zurich Insurance Group, Partners Group, Swiss Life Holding, Swiss Re and Sika gained 1 to 1.6%.<\/p>\n
Roche Holding ended 1.45% down and Givaudan closed nearly 1% down.<\/p>\n
In the Swiss Mid Price Index, Julius Baer and Kuehne & Nagel both ended nearly 3.5% up. Tecan Group ended higher by 2.7% and Logitech gained 2.4%, while SIG Combibloc and AMS moved up 1.7% and 1.1%, respectively.<\/p>\n
Clariant declined 1.3%, while Lindt & Spruengli, Swiss Prime Site and Galenica Sante lost 0.7 to 0.85%.<\/p>\n
In Swiss economic news, data from the Federal Customs Administration showed Switzerland’s exports declined by a real 1.4% month-on-month in February after rising by 6% in January. In December, exports decreased 6.1%. <\/p>\n
Imports rose 0.3% monthly in February, after a 1.8% increase in the previous month.<\/p>\n
In nominal terms, exports declined 1% in February and imports decreased 0.2%. The trade surplus decreased to CHF 3.336 billion in February from CHF 3.509 billion in January.<\/p>\n
According to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, watch exports declined 0.3% year-on-year in February.<\/p>\n
A report from the Federal Statistical Office said Switzerland’s producer and import prices decreased by 1.1% year-on-year in February.<\/p>\n
The producer price index declined 0.9% annually in February and import prices decreased 1.7%. On a monthly basis, producer and import prices remained unchanged in February, the report said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Market Analysis<\/p>\n<\/div>\n