The Swiss market concluded Friday on an upbeat trajectory, despite a volatile trading day, as investors evaluated the latest economic data from the region while staying attuned to the ongoing geopolitical developments.
Initially trading near the unchanged line until mid-afternoon, the benchmark SMI briefly entered negative territory but rebounded in the final minutes, ending with an increase of 54.40 points or 0.46%, closing at 11,764.20.
Among the top performers, ABB rose by 1.62%, and UBS Group saw an uptick of nearly 1.5%. Richemont, Lonza Group, and Partners Group recorded gains ranging from 1.1% to 1.25%.
Geberit advanced close to 1%, and several other notable firms such as VAT Group, Straumann Holding, Roche Holding, Lindt & Sprüngli, Holcim, Logitech International, Zurich Insurance Group, Alcon, and Swatch Group also ended the session on a positive note.
Conversely, SIG Group dropped by 1.53%, while Julius Baer, Sandoz Group, Swisscom, and Nestle registered slight declines, each down between 0.2% and 0.5%. Novartis experienced a minor decline as well.
On the economic front, the KOF Swiss Economic Institute released survey data indicating a strengthening in the Swiss economy's future outlook for November. The economic barometer rose to 101.8, up from a downwardly revised figure of 99.5 in October, marking the first occasion since January that the index exceeded the 100-point threshold.