Swiss Market Ends On Positive Note

The Switzerland stock market ended modestly higher amid stock specific buying on Friday, bucking the weak trend seen across Europe.

After a positive start and a subsequent slip into negative territory, the market rebounded and stayed fairly steady for much of the trading session before paring some gains in the closing minutes.

The benchmark SMI ended up 19.84 points or 0.19% at 10,593.17. It touched a low of 10,508.31 and a high of 10,591.66 in the session.

Roche Holding shares gained nearly 2% after the company announced the launch of its Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 S antibody test for markets accepting the CE Mark.

Lonza Group gained about 1.6%. Zurich Insurance Group, Novartis, ABB and Sika advanced 0.4 to 1%.

Among the losers in the SMI, Credit Suisse slid 2.4%, Richemont lost 2.1%, Swiss Re declined 1.9% and UBS Group ended down 1.8%. Adecco and Netle lost 1.3% and 1.1%, respectively.

In the midcap section, VAT Group gained 3.7% and Vifor Pharma ended nearly 3% up. Ems Chemie Holding, Schindler Holding and BB Biotech also rose sharply.

Flughafen Zurich slid more than 3%. Temenos Group, Helvetia and Dufry ended lower by 1.6%, 1.25% and 1%, respectively.

Most of the markets across Europe ended with sharp to moderate losses today amid rising concerns about spikes in coronavirus cases, and on growing uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery following central banks in the U.S., Japan and the U.K. not announcing any additional stimulus plans.