"While not cutting rates or setting up a new bazooka, the ECB keeps the door open for further measures if warranted"
- Witold Bahrke, a senior strategist at PFA Pension A/S
Swiss stocks closed in green on Thursday after China cut benchmark interest rate and the ECB said it will act if the economic outlook deteriorates.
The Swiss blue-chip index SMI, a measure of the largest and most actively traded companies, gained 0.80%, or 46.58 points, to 5,869.21. The broader Swiss Performance Index increased 0.86%, or 46.54 points, to 5,476.39.
"We've seen the first policy response today," said Kevin Lilley, a European fund manager at Old Mutual Asset Managers U.K. in London.
"Economic data has just recently deteriorated which you could argue is more likely to prompt a policy response. I think we are now at that stage."
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