BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Switzerland stock market ended notably higher on Wednesday, in line with markets across Europe, as investors bet on more stimulus from global central banks to spur growth.
Investors were looking ahead to the minutes of the Federal Reserve's late July meeting.
The benchmark SMI ended up 77.72 points, or 0.8%, at 9,848.11. The index scaled a low of 9,782.33 and a high of 9,883.08 in the session.
On Tuesday, the index ended down 55.20 points, or 0.56%, at 9,770.39, on profit taking and weak exports data. In the previous two sessions, the index had gained a total of about 2.3%.
Lonza Group and Richemont closed stronger by 2.53% and 2.44%, respectively. Swatch Group gained 1.9%, while Sika, SGS, Geberit, Adecco, ABB and Novartis advanced 1 to 1.4%.
LafargeHolcim, Nestle, UBS Group, Swiss Re, Credit Suisse, Swiss Life Holding and Swisscom ended with modest gains.
Givaudan edged up by 0.35%. The company announce that it has bought British-based Fragrance Oils for an undisclosed price. Fragrance Oils has 250 employees and about 50 million pounds ($60.77 million) in annual sales.
Alcon declined 1.25% on weak results. The company reported a net loss of $390 million, or 80 cents per share, for the quarter ended June 2019, as against net income of $15 million, or 3 cents per share, in the previous year. Alcon's net sales were up 2% at $1.86 billion in the June quarter.
Alcon confirmed its full-year guidance for 3-5% revenue growth and expects a core operating margin of 17-18%.
The pan European Stoxx 600 ended stronger by 1.21%, mirroring widespread buying in the automobile space and the largely firm trend across major European markets.
Among the other major indices in Europe, France's CAC 40 climbled up 1.7%, Germany's DAX advanced 1.3% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 1.11%.
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