Swiss Market Ends On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market suffered a mild setback after opening higher Wednesday morning, but recovered swiftly and stayed positive right through the day's session to end on a firm note.

A positive trend across Europe supported sentiment. Investors, factoring in a possible steep interest rate hike by the Fed, chose to pick up some battered down stocks.

The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 84.52 points or 0.79% at 10,783.59. The index touched a low of 10,683.70 and a high of 10,850.17 in the session.

Swiss Life Holding rallied 3.2%. Partners Group gained 2.8%, Logitech, Richemont and Holcim moved up 2 to 2.25%, while ABB, Lonza Group, Swiss Re, Givaudan, Zurich Insurance Group, UBS Group, Geberit and Sika advanced 1.4 to 1.85%.

Nestle, the lone gainer in the SMI in the previous session, ended 0.8% down. Credit Suisse edged down marginally.

In the mid price Index, Zur Rose soared nearly 8.5% and Temenos Group climbed nearly 8%. Tecan Group, Bachem Holding, Julius Baer, Flughafen Zurich, Dufry, AMS, Cembra Money Bank, Baloise Holding, BB Biotech, Adecco, SIG Combibloc, Swatch Group and Helvetia gained 2.4 to 3.7%.

Shares of Swiss specialty chemicals company Clariant AG gained about 0.5%. The firm posted a rise in EBITDA for the first quarter, supported by higher sales, cost savings and pricing measures.

The market also digested the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs' Summer Forecast that said the economy is set to grow 2.6% this year instead of 2.8% projected in March. Likewise, the projection for next year was downgraded to 1.9% from 2%.

In the near-term, the economy is expected to continue recovering with the lifting of the health policy measures. The favorable developments in the labor market is supporting consumer spending and inflation remains moderate by international standards, the SECO observed.

However, in the further course of the forecast horizon, the war in Ukraine clouded prospects for the global economy. The prices of important exports of Russia and Ukraine, namely energy sources and certain staple foods and fodder, increased sharply, lifting inflationary pressures.

In addition, a significantly weaker development is to be expected in China due to the far-reaching corona measures, the SECO said.

The agency upgraded its inflation forecast for this year to 2.5% from 1.9% and that for next year to 1.4% from 0.7%.

The expert group of the government expects the labor market to continue to recover and the average unemployment rate is seen at 2.1% in 2022, followed by 2% in 2023.

Switzerland's producer and import prices increased 6.9% year-on-year in May, after rising 6.7% in March, data from the Federal Statistical Office showed.

The producer price index rose 4.4% annually in May and import prices grew 11.9%. On a monthly basis, producer and import prices rose 0.9% in May.