BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Switzerland stock market ended on a firm note on Tuesday, in line with markets across Europe, amid reports the spread of coronavirus infection is slowing in Hubei, China.
The benchmark SMI ended up 61.39 points, or 0.56%, at 11,101.17, slightly off the day's high of 11,114.39, which is also a fresh record high.
Credit Suisse gained about 2.15%. Lonza Group ended nearly 2% up and ABB advanced 1.75%. Sika, Givaudan, Alcon, Novartis and SGS gained 1 to 1.5%.
Swisscom and UBS Group both ended nearly 1% up. Swiss Life Holdings, Swiss Re, LafargeHolcim and Zurich Insurance Group also closed on a firm note.
In the midcap section, VAT Group gained nearly 3%. Ems Chemie Holding, Clariant, Logitech, OC Oerlikon Corp, Georg Fischer, Partners Group, Bucher Industries, Julius Baer, Kuehne & Nagel and BB Biotech gained 1 to 2%.
AMS shares declined more than 3%. The company reported adjusted earnings before interest and tax of $184.3 million for the quarter ended December 2019. Revenues came in at $655 million. Revenue in the first quarter is expected to reach $480-520 million due to seasonality and assuming no meaningful negative impact from the coronavirus outbreak, the company said.
Among the major indices in Europe, the FTSE 100 closed 0.71% up, France's CAC 40 advanced 0.65% and Germany's DAX climbed 0.99%, while Switzerland's SMI gained 0.5%. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended up 0.9%.
According to reports, the number of confirmed infections due to coronavirus in China grew, to at least 42,638 from about 40,000 a day earlier. However, the daily tally of new cases have dropped compared with previous days.
Hubei recorded 2,097 new infections on Monday, compared with 2,618 a day earlier.
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