Swiss Market Close Modestly Higher As Stocks Recover In The Final Hour

(RTTNews) - Despite languishing in negative territory till well past mid afternoon on Tuesday, the Switzerland stock market ended the day's session on a positive note, thanks to some brisk buying at select counters in the final hour.

The benchmark SMI, which fell into negative territory after opening slightly up, dropped to 10,275.64, and after staying weak till mid afternoon, struggled for direction for a couple of hours before edging higher to settle at 10,376.81 with a gain of 44.89 points or 0.43%.

Shares of computers part maker Logitech International soared 10.15% after the company lifted its full-year guidance.

Richemont gained about 2.1%. Swiss Re and Lonza Group advanced 1.3% and 1.01%, respectively. Alcon, Novartis, Swiss Life Holding, Zurich Insurance Group and Sonova gained 0.6 to 0.9%.

ABB ended nearly 1% down. Holcim and Givaudan ended lower by 0.65% and 0.63%, respectively. UBS Group and Roche Holding declined marginally.

In the Mid Price Index, Meyer Burger Tech climbed 6.51%. Galenica Sante rallied 3.13% and Dufry gained 2.78%. Swatch Group ended higher by about 2.15%.

Schindler Ps, PSP Swiss Property, Straumann Holding, Lindt & Spruengli and BKW gained 1.2 to 1.4%.

Sandoz ended 6.75% down. SIG Combibloc and AMS ended lower by 3.35% and 2.6%, respectively.