Swiss Market Ends Modestly Higher Ahead Of SNB Policy Announcement

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland market started off on a weak note on Wednesday, but recovered swiftly and kept edging higher as the day progressed to eventually close on a positive note with investors looking ahead to Swiss National Bank's interest rate decision on Thursday.

Investors also digested U.S. consumer price inflation data, which came in line with expectations and raised the possibility of another interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.

The Swiss National Bank is widely expected to lower interest rate by 25 basis points. The European Central Bank, which is also scheduled to announce its monetary policy tomorrow, is expected to cut rates by 25 basis points.

The benchmark SMI closed up 39.48 points or 0.34% at 11,681.87, recovering from an early low of 11,618.72.

Givaudan rallied 3.54%. SGS closed nearly 2.5% up. VAT Group and SIG Group gained 1.09% and 0.9%, respectively. Lonza Group, Holcim, Julius Baer, Swiss Life Holding, Geberit, Logitech International and Straumann Holding posted modest gains.

Swiss Re and Adecco both closed lower by more than 2%. Swatch Group, Novartis, UBS Group, Sika and Sonova lost 1.3 to 1.7%.

Sandoz Group, Zurich Insurance Group, Nestle and Swisscom declined 0.8 to 1.2%. Roche Holding and Alcon also closed weak.