BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Switzerland stock market ended on a bright note on Wednesday, as a rally in the U.S. market lifted sentiment and prompted traders to indulge in some hectic bargain hunting and short-covering.
Despite lingering geopolitical tensions and concerns about a likely delay in coronavirus vaccines after AstraZeneca decided to pause its clinical trial of a vaccine due to unexplained illness of a participating patient, the mood was quite positive right through the session.
The benchmark SMI, which rose to 10,430.64, gaining consistently after a steady start, came off that high in the final hour and settled at 10,406.57, gaining 156.13 points or 1.52%.
Swiss Re rallied more than 4%. Givaudan gained 2.65%, while Swiss Life Holding, Credit Suisse and UBS Group closed higher by 2 to 2.4%.
Adecco, Swisscom, LafargeHolcim, Roche Holding, Nestle, ABB, SGS, Zuruch Insurance Group and Sika advanced by 1.5 to 2%, while Richemont declined 1.4%.
In the midcap space, AMS gained nearly 2.5%. Lindt & Sp Ps, Clariant, Kuehne & Nagel, Swiss Prime Site, PSP Swiss Property, Vifor Pharma, Schindler Ps, Schindler Holding and Partners Group gained 1.5 to 2.3%.
In economic news, Switzerland's unemployment rate remained unchanged in August, coming in at a seasonally adjusted 3.4%, same as seen in July, data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, showed. This was in line with economists' expectations.
On an unadjusted basis, the unemployment rate rose marginally to 3.3% in August, as expected, from 3.2% in July.
The number of registered unemployed increased by 2,241 from the previous month to 151,111 in August.
The unemployment rate among youth aged between 15 and 24 increased to 3.9% from 3.4% in July, the data showed.
Most of the markets across Europe ended with impressive gains today. Among the major indices in Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 1.39%, Germany's DAX surged up 2.07% and France's CAC 40 advanced 1.4%. The pan European Stoxx 600 moved up 1.62%.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX