(RTTNews) - After a sluggish start and a subsequent recovery Wednesday morning, the Switzerland market turned a bit flat, but recovered soon and edged higher as the session progressed to eventually close modestly up.
The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 36.81 points or 0.34% at 11,001.62, after scaling a low of 10,940.14 and a high of 11,028.14 intraday.
Givaudan, the top gainer among SMI components, climbed 2.55%. Sika advanced 1.84%, Geberit gained 1.7%, Richemont and UBS Group both gained about 1.55%.
Sonova, Kuehne & Nagel, Holcim and Partners Group gained 0.7 to 1.1%. Zurich Insurance Group, Logitech International and Swiss Life Holding ended modestly higher.
Roche Holding, Swiss Re and Nestle ended down 0.2 to 0.4%.
Novartis, which moved higher after an announcement that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved its Fabhalta (iptacopan) as the first oral monotherapy to treat adults with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, gave up its gains and ended slightly weak.
Among Mid Price components, Tecan Group climbed 2.75%. VAT Group, ams OSRAM AG and Belimo Holding gained 2 to 2.4%.
Straumann Holding, Ems Chemie Holding and Avolta ended higher by 1.77%, 1.68% and 1.46%, respectively.
Clariant ended flat. Earlier in the session, shares of the specialty chemicals company, fell about 1% after an announcement that it will shut down its Sunliquid bioethanol production in Podari, Romania, and downsize its related operations in in Germany.
BKW, Adecco and Meyer Burger Tech drifted down 1.29%, 1.16% and 1.09%, respectively.
