Swiss Market Ends Roughly Flat

(RTTNews) - After opening modestly down and staying weak till a little before noon on Friday, the Switzerland market moved up the flat line and remained somewhat steady for much of the afternoon but drifted down a bit in the final hour to end the day's session roughly flat.

The benchmark SMI settled at 12,839.27, down 2.89 points or 0.02%. The index, which dropped to 12,705.94 early on in the session, advanced to 12,945.21 around mid afternoon but failed to hold gains.

Amrize, Richemont, VAT Group, Sika, Julius Baer and Galderma Group lost 2.1%-2.5%. ABB and Straumann Holding both ended lower by about 1.9%.

Alcon, Geberit and SGS lost 1%-1.25%. UBS Group and Lonza Group closed moderately lower.

Novartis gained nearly 0.5%. The drugmaker announced today that Cosentyx received US Food and Drug Administration approval for treating pediatric patients 12 years and older with moderate to severe hidradenitis suppurativa.

Nestle climbed about 1.1% and Swisscom gained nearly 1%. Roche Holding, Swiss Life Holding, Lindt & Spruengli, Zurich Insurance, Helvetia Baloise Holding, Partners Group and Sandoz Group advanced 0.5%-0.8%.