Swiss Market Ends On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - Save for a few minutes at the start, the Switzerland market's benchmark index SMI stayed positive on Friday as lower oil prices and bond yields helped underpin sentiment.

Oil prices fell reacting to reports that European Union countries are discussing a French proposal to release fuel and crude stockpiles to ease acute market tightness and help avert a potential U.S. diesel export ban.

Brent crude front-month futures fell to $98.40 before recovering to edge above $100 a barrel.

Additionally, weaker than expected jobs data from the U.S. has somewhat reduced the likelihood of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates at its next meeting later this month. The report from the Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment rose by 29,000 jobs in September after jumping by a downwardly revised 133,000 jobs in August, while economists had expected employment to increase by 85,000 jobs.

The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2% in September from 4.1% in August. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.

The index, which edged down to 13,578.54 at the start, climbed to 13,751.67 around mid-morning and despite paring some gains subsequently, managed to stay firm till the end, settling at 13,660.92, gaining 38.07 points or 0.28%.

ABB, VAT Group and Sika gained 2.6%-2.9%. Julius Baer moved up nearly 2%. Kuehne + Nagel, Schindler Ps, Swiss RE and Zurich Insurance climbed 1.5%-1.8%.

Geberit, Logitech International, UBS Group, Swisscom and Amrize ended higher by 1.2%-1.4%. Partners Group, Lonza Group, Swiss Life Holding, Givaudan and SGS advanced 0.5%-1%.

Straumann Holding fell 1.9%. Novartis drifted down 1.46% and Lindt & Spruengli lost 1.1%. Roche and Sonova ended lower by 0.95% and 0.7%, respectively.