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"Bond sales in Italy and France, because the countries have more problems, will offer more of a guide for the market"
- Arnaud Scarpaci, a fund manager at Agilis Gestion SA
Swiss stocks closed slightly higher on Thursday after Spain sold 9.98 billion euros of government bonds maturing in 2015 and 2016 and Italy sold 12 billion euros of Treasury bills, pushing yields lower.
The Swiss blue-chip index SMI, a measure of the largest and most actively traded companies, gained 0.17%, or 10.03 points, to 6,018.07. The broader Swiss Performance Index rose 0.28%, or 15.02 points, to 5,427.91.
Swiss Federal Statistical Office is to announce producer price inflation on Monday. Inflation dropped 0.8 percent in November after declining 0.2 percent in October.