Swiss Market Settles Marginally Up

(RTTNews) - Despite spending much of the day's trading session in negative territory, the Switzerland market closed marginally higher on Tuesday thanks to some brisk buying in the final minutes.

The mood was cautious with investors assessing the possibility of major European countries striking trade deals with the U.S.

US President Donald Trump pushed the tariff negotiation deadline to Aug. 1 and sent letters to 14 countries, informing them that they will be subject to new reciprocal tariff rates, effective the same date. Switzerland and the European Union have yet to secure a trade deal with the US.

The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 16.11 points or 0.13% at 11,970.65, the day's high. The index touched a low of 11,877.48 intraday.

Swatch Group climbed nearly 3%. Adecco, SIG Group, UBS Group and VAT Group gained 1.4 to 1.85%.

Partners Group, Julius Baer, Holcim, Straumann Holding, Sandoz Group, Logitech International and Kuehne + Nagel advanced 0.5 to 1.3%.

Swisscom, Schindler Ps, Alcon, Zurich Insurance, Swiss Life Holding and Lonza Group lost 0.4 to 1%.