The Swiss market overcame a slightly weak start and advanced on Wednesday, buoyed by soft inflation data from the U.S. that heightened expectations of the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates twice this year.
The benchmark Swiss Market Index (SMI) closed 94.67 points higher, or 0.78%, at 12,167.59. After dipping to 12,061.93 in early trading, the index reached a peak of 12,185.77 in the final hour.
Shares in VAT Group surged by 3.77%, while ABB rose nearly 3%. Partners Group, Julius Baer, and Holcim each saw gains of 2.2%.
Logitech International finished 1.63% higher, with Swatch Group, Swiss Life Holding, Geberit, Roche Holding, Schindler, Richemont, and Sika all recording increases between 1% and 1.4%. Zurich Insurance Group and Sandoz Group also closed significantly up.
Flughafen Zurich saw an increase of about 1.3%, bolstered by an announcement that its May passenger traffic surged 9.4% year over year to 2,772,182, with turnover rising 3.5% to 55.4 million francs.
Conversely, Lonza Group declined by 2.02%, while Swisscom and SIG Group fell by 1.28% and 1.2%, respectively. Sonova also dipped nearly 0.9%.
