The Swiss Stock Market Dipped Ahead Of The Christmas Holiday Weekend

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended Friday's session with a slight decrease. The market got off to a positive start, but quickly slipped into negative territory and remained within a narrow, 30-points range for the rest of the session. Trading action was relatively subdued ahead of the long Christmas holiday weekend.

The Swiss Market Index decreased by 0.06 percent Friday and finished at 8,232.64. The Swiss Leader Index fell 0.10 percent and the Swiss Performance Index slipped 0.02 percent.

Credit Suisse declined 0.9 percent Friday. The bank settled a U.S. probe into mortgage-backed securities for about $5.3 billion. Credit Suisse will pay the amount over a period of five years.

German lender Deutsche Bank also reached a tentative $7.2 billion deal to settle a federal investigation into its sale of toxic mortgage securities.

Shares of UBS also weakened by 1.5 percent Friday.

Lonza was also among the losers at the end of the trading week, falling 0.9 percent. Richemont surrendered 0.8 percent and Actelion lost 0.7 percent.

Among the index heavyweights, Novartis and Roche gained 0.1 percent each, while Nestlé dipped 0.1 percent.

The insurance stocks were among the best performers Friday. Bâloise climbed 0.8 percent, Swiss Re and Swiss Life each gained 0.7 percent, while Zurich Insurance added 0.4 percent.