BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Swiss stocks stayed firm right through the day's
trading session on Thursday thanks to sustained buying at several counters as
investors reacted to earnings updates.

The benchmark SMI, which climbed to 11,983.75 intraday, ended the day with a
gain of 47.40 points or 0.4% at $11,946.66.

Swiss Re rallied nearly 4% after reporting a net income of $1.1 billion or $3.76
per share for the first quarter of 2024. Insurance revenue for the
latest-quarter was $11.7 billion.

Zurich Insurance Group climbed about 3.5%, riding on upbeat quarterly earnings.
The company reported that its first-quarter Property & Casualty or P&C Gross
written premiums grew 5% to $12.62 billion from last year's $11.97 billion. The
growth was 9% on a like-for-like basis.

P&C insurance revenue increased 9% to $10.25 billion from $9.41 billion a year
ago. Insurance revenue grew 12% on a like-for-like basis, the company said. It's
life Insurance revenue from short-term insurance contracts climbed 29% to $680
million.

Roche Holdings gained 3.2%, while Logitech International and Swiss Life Holding
both gained nearly 1.25%.

Swatch Group, Kuehne & Nagel, Straumann Holding and Richemont posted moderate
gains.

VAT Group and Lindt & Spruengli lost 1.6% and 1.4%, respectively. Holcim, ABB,
UBS Group, Lonza Group, Novartis and Sika ended lower by 0.7 to 1.2%.



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