Swiss Market Shrugs Off Early Weakness, Settles On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - After struggling for direction till more than an hour past noon on Friday, the Switzerland market gradually moved higher as stocks found some support amid slight hopes about an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next month after a central bank official said he sees "room for a further adjustment" to rates in the near term.

New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said at the Chile Centennial Conference that monetary policy is "moderately restrictive" and there is room for further adjustment to rates.

The benchmark SMI, which dropped to 12,476.17 at the start, finished the session at 12,632.67, gaining 89.61 points or 0.71%.

Sandoz Group and Novartis climbed 2.6% and 2.45%, respectively. Geberit, Givaudan and Nestle gained 1.85 to 2%.

Kuehne + Nagel, Straumann Holding, Roche Holding and SGS closed higher by 1.1 to 1.7%. SGS gained after announcing that it has acquired a majority stake in French startup Sami

Zurich Insurance Group, Lonza Group, Schindler Ps, Julius Baer and Swiss Re gained 0.6 to 1%.

VAT Group ended down more than 5%. UBS Group and ABB closed lower by 1.94% and 1.83%, respectively. Holcim lost about 1.6% and Richemont ended down by 1.1%.