Thursday saw a modest increase in the Swiss market, despite it staying largely negative throughout the day. Much of the investors' focus was on the European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement to determine the probable timeline for interest rate cuts.
The benchmark SMI index closed slightly higher, registering a gain of 12.20 points, or 0.11%, to close at the day's peak of 11,209.02. The index had dropped to a day's low of 11,138.04 in the mid-afternoon.
In the SMI index, Givaudan emerged as the top gainer, witnessing an 8.32% increase. This surge was due to the announcement that the company plans to propose a dividend of 68 francs per share for 2023, a 1.5% increase. The group reported an attributable income of 893 million francs for 2023, higher than the previous year's 856 million francs.
Other gainers included Kuehne & Nagel and Partners Group, which improved by 1.52% and 1.2% respectively. Sika, Nestle, ABB, and Sonova also saw increases ranging from 0.8 to 1%, while Geberit, UBS Group, and Holcim made slight gains.
On the other hand, Lonza Group fell nearly 3%, while Roche Holding and Logitech International also saw decreases of 1.28% and 1.22% respectively. Novartis also ended the day lower by about 0.8%.
Within the Mid Price Index, Avolta saw a 2.7% rise, while Schindler Holding, Flughafen Zurich, and Schindler Ps increased by 1.7%, 1.55%, and 1.49% respectively.
United in loss, Meyer Burger Tech plummeted 11.6%, Sandoz fell 2.3% and both Swatch Group and Straumann Holding dropped around 1.05%.
