(RTTNews) - After staying firmly in positive territory till a few minutes before noon on Thursday, the Switzerland stock market turned subdued and moved along the flat line for a long time, but edged higher in the final hour to finally close on a positive note.
The benchmark SMI ended higher by 51.01 points or 0.46% at 11,063.88, after scaling a low of 10,975.51 and a high of 11,122.18 intraday.
Credit Suisse surged 1.75%. UBS Group and Sika both gained about 1.5%. Zurich Insurance Group, Swiss Re, Holcim, Lonza Group, Richemont, Partners Group and Geberit gained 0.8 to 1.2%.
Alcon ended 0.65% down. Novartis drifted down 0.75% after the company said it would spin off Sandoz and list the biosimilars unit on the Swiss stock exchange.
In the Mid Price Index, Bachem Holding rallied 5.5%. Straumann Holding climbed nearly 3% and AMS advanced 2.1%.
Flughafen Zurich, Tecan Group and Julius Baer gained 1.2 to 1.5%.
Zur Rose tanked 14.7%. Baloise Holding ended lower by 5.7% and BB Biotech closed 3.8% down, while Cembra Money Bank shed 1.7%.
