Swiss Market Ends On High Note

The Switzerland stock market ended sharply higher on Monday, in line with the trend seen across Europe, as positive news on U.S. stimulus front, and the launch of a massive coronavirus vaccination drive across Europe boosted sentiment.

The benchmark SMI ended stronger by 191.57 points or 1.84% at 10,603.49, slightly off the day's high of 10,611.34.

Novartis ended nearly 3% up. Lonza Group, Nestle, ABB, Partners Group, Zurich Insurance Group, Swiss Life Holding and Alcon gained 2 to 2.5%.

Sika, Geberit, Richemont, Swisscom, Swiss Re, Roche Holding and Credit Suisse also ended notably higher.

Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Clariant climbed more than 5%. Ems Chemie Holding gained about 3%, while Flughafen Zurich advanced nearly 2%.

Dufry, Sonova, VAT Group, Kuehne & Nagel, Helvetia, Georg Fischer, AMS and Straumann Holding also closed with strong gains.

On the vaccine front, Switzerland started its vaccination programme last Wednesday. The country has received an initial batch of 107,000 Covid-19 vaccines. According to reports, 250,000 more will arrive in January.

Meanwhile, reports from health officials said last week that the number of hospitalisations due to coronavirus infection remained high and that about 72% of the beds in intensive care units were occupied.

On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump signed legislation for $900 billion in coronavirus economic aid and $1.4 trillion in government spending, providing support for millions of Americans and averting a government shutdown. He had earlier threatened to block the package.

"I am signing this bill to restore unemployment benefits, stop evictions, provide rental assistance, add money for PPP, return our airline workers back to work, add substantially more money for vaccine distribution, and much more," Trump said in a statement.

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