After a sluggish start, the Swiss market showed a temporary increase in the mid-morning of Friday but fell back into negative figures for the remainder of the trading day. Investors apparently decided to reap some benefits due to the absence of new financial stimuli.
The standard SMI, the Swiss Market Index, decreased by 51.67 points or 0.44%, hitting a low at 11,651.99 by the end of the trading day.
Some of the considerable losses were noted in Sonova, with a 4.6% decline, Richemont dropping 2.61%, and Geberit down by 1.87%. Swiss Life Holding and Alcon also suffered losses, dropping 1.23% and 1% respectively.
Others like Swiss Re, Nestle, Sika, and Partners Group showed a drop ranging from 0.5 to 0.77%.
Conversely, Logitech International and Lonza Group showed slight gains of about 1.5% and 1.3% respectively. Swisscom and Kuehne & Nagel also posted modest earnings.
In the Mid Price Index, Straumann Holding fell nearly by 4% while VAT Group, Avolta and Belimo Holding ended the day with losses of 2.21%, 2.17%, and 1.84%, respectively.
Baloise Holding, Swatch Group, Sandoz, Georg Fischer, and Schindler Holding fell between 1% to 1.6%.
Meanwhile, Meyer Burger Tech showed a significant rally with an almost 12% surge. Also, BKW increased by 2.62%, the Temenos Group climbed 1.43%, and Flughafen Zurich, Swiss Prime Site, Ems Chemie Holding, and Lindt & Spruengli made gains of between 0.7% to 1.1%.
According to data from the Swiss National Bank, Switzerland's current account surplus broadened to CHF 15.4 billion in the final quarter of 2024, up from 13.3 billion in the same period the previous year.
