Swiss Market Ends Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market ended modestly higher on Wednesday after a cautious session ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement.

Policy announcements from the Swiss National Bank, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Norges Bank are due later in the week.

The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 37.69 points or 0.34% at 11,188.91. The index, which touched a low of 11,153.77 in early trades, advanced to 11,255.50 about an hour past noon.

Sonova climbed 2.25%. Alcon gained nearly 2%. Sika and Richemont ended higher by 1.61% and 1.44%, respectively.

Partners Group, Kuehne & Nagel, Novartis, Swiss Life Holding and Logitech International advanced 0.87 to 1%.

Nestle, Roche Holding and Lonza Group lost 0.52%, 0.41% and 0.37%, respectively. Swisscom edged down 0.16%.

In the Mid Price Index, Ems Chemie Holding, Straumann Holding, BKW and Sandoz gained 1.4 to 2.3%. Swiss Prime Site, VAT Group, Belimo Holding and Schindler Ps ended higher by 0.8 to 1.1%.

Meyer Burger Tech tanked 14.4%, extending recent losses. ams OSRAM AG ended 2.8% down. Avolta and Tecan Group closed lower by 2% and 1.3%, respectively.

On the economic front, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said the Swiss economy is set to register well below average growth in 2024 as the weaker momentum in the euro area hurts Swiss exports and higher financing cost curbs investment.

In the economic forecast, the expert group of the SECO said gross domestic product will grow 1.3% this year, which was unchanged from the previous outlook.

But the government trimmed the outlook for 2024 to 1.1% from 1.2%. The government expects private consumption to provide some support to growth.

Due to the economic slowdown, the average unemployment rate is projected to rise to 2.3% in 2024 from 2% percent in 2023.

After an annual rate of 2.1% this year, inflation would ease to 1.9% in 2024. The estimate for 2023 was lowered from 2.2%, while the 2024 forecast to was left unchanged.