BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Swiss stocks ended on a buoyant note on Friday and the benchmark SMI posted a new all-time high as stocks extended gains to a fourth straight session amid continued optimism about global economic recovery.
Strong industrial production data from China and a report showing U.S. housing starts to have soared to a 13-year high in December aided sentiment.
The SMI opened modestly higher and stayed positive right through the session. It touched a new all-time high of 10,849.29 and ended the session with a gain of 148.30 points, or 1.39%, at 10,841.82.
On Thursday, the index ended up 22.78 points, or 0.21%, after gaining 0.14% and 0.31% in the earlier two sessions.
Richemont shares gained nearly 5%, riding on a 6% jump in sales in the third quarter.
Roche Holding ended about 2.2% up. Sika and Nestle gained 1.9% and 1.6%, respectively. Zurich Insurance Group, Alcon, Novartis, SGS and Swiss Life Holding moved up 1 to 1.4%.
Among the stocks in the midcap section, Schindler Holding and Schindler Ps gained 3.25% and 3.1%, respectively. Straumann Holding, Clariant, Bucher Industries, PSP Swiss Property, Baloise Holding and Julius Baer closed high 1.2% - 1.6%.
BB Biotech gained about 1.4% after the company said it posted a net gain Of CHF 677 million for the fiscal year 2019.
Swiss Prime Site, Sonova, Dufry, Lindt & Sp Ps and Helvetia also closed on a firm note.
Shares of Dorma Kaba Holding and Logitech ended lower by 1.4% and 1.1%, respectively. AMS and Temenos Group closed modestly lower.
In economic news, Switzerland's producer and import prices declined 1.7% year-on-year in December, data from the Federal Statistical Office showed. On a monthly basis, producer and import prices edged up 0.1% in December.
On an average, producer and import prices declined 1.4% in 2019, after a 2.4% rise in 2018.
The latest decline was mainly due to lower prices for pharmaceutical products, scrap, mineral oil products, and metals and semi-finished metal products.
The producer prices fell 1% annually in December and edged up 0.1% from the previous month. Likewise, import prices dropped 3.2% from last year but rose 0.2% on month.
Among the other major markets in Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.85%, Germany's DAX ended 0.72% up and France's CAC 40 advanced 1.02%. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended up 0.96%.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX