The Swiss Stock Market Climbed On Strong Performance Of Index Heavyweights

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended Monday's trading session in positive territory, while most of the European markets finished in the red. The trading session was light, due to the Presidents Day holiday in the United States. Investors were also cautious due to the meeting of Eurozone finance ministers in Brussels.

The Eurogroup of finance ministers are meeting in Brussels today to try to find common ground on a debt deal with Greece' new government. In an interview with German media, Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he was "confident" of reaching agreement in negotiations, but reiterated the country would not accept harsh austerity strings in any debt pact.

The Swiss Market Index climbed by 0.70 percent Monday and finished at 8,712.69. The Swiss Leader Index rose by 0.53 percent and the Swiss Performance Index gained 0.66 percent.

The strong performance of the index heavyweights provided a boost to the overall market at the start of the new trading week. Roche increased by 1.3 percent and Novartis added 1.00 percent. Nestle also finished the day with a gain of 0.4 percent.

Actelion managed to hold on to a gain of 0.6 percent. The stock had been down nearly 5 percent in early trade, after the company reported disappointing full year 2014 results. The stock recovered after its conference call. Actelion management remains confident in the future of Opsumit, which it called "a real transformer."

Transocean surged by 3.9 percent. The company announced that Steven Newman will step down as President and Chief Executive Officer effective February 16, 2015.

Credit Suisse climbed by 1.1 percent, after it received a positive mention in the U.S. investment magazine Barron's. UBS increased by 1.4 percent, but Julius Baer dipped by 0.1 percent.