BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - After a slightly lower start and a subsequent long spell in negative territory, the Switzerland stock market saw some buying past mid afternoon and ended flat on Friday.
The mood, despite positive updates on the vaccine front, remained cautious due to rising coronavirus cases in the country. Weak cues from the other major markets in Europe, and weak U.S. market too contributed to the largely sluggish performance.
The benchmark SMI, which touched a low of 10,291.98 a little past noon, ended the session at 10,391.76, netting a loss of 4.20 points or 0.04%.
Zurich Insurance Group, Credit Suisse and Swiss Re lost 2 to 2.2%. Swiss Life Holding ended nearly 2% down and Swatch Group shed 1.8%.
UBS Group and LafargeHolcim ended lower by 1.2% and 1%, respectively.
Among the gainers in the SMI, Richemont moved up by about 1.6%, Lonza Group advanced 1.4% and SGS added 1.3%. Sika and Nestle also ended notably higher.
In the Mid Price Index, Dufry ended lower by about 3%, Georg Fischer, Julius Baer and AMS lost 2 to 2.25%, Clariant, Vifor Pharma, Baloise Holding, Straumann Holding and Temenos Group declined 1.7 to 1.9%, and Helvetia ended lower by 1.3%.
On the other hand, Adecco gained 3.5%, VAT Group advanced nearly 3% and PSP Swiss Property gained 1.9%. Kuehne & Nagel, Swiss Prime Site, Lindt Sp & Ps and Logitech also closed notably higher.
The Swiss government today ordered restaurants, bars and shops to close from 7 p.m. across most of the nation following a high level of coronavirus infections and deaths.
According to Swiss health department, new cases rose by over 5,100 on Friday in Switzerland and neighbouring principality Liechtenstein. Data said about 1.3% of the population has been infected in the last four weeks.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
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