The Swiss Stock Market Finished Little Changed Ahead Of Fed Meeting

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended Friday's session with a modest decrease, but finished the overall week with a gain. Trading action could best be described as restrained Friday. Investors were hesitant to take positions ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting next week.

Analysts are still split regarding whether the Federal Reserve will announce an increase in interest rates when it concludes its monetary policy meeting on Thursday next week. While upbeat economic data points to the first rate hike in nearly a decade, the recent market volatility and concerns about developing economies may keep the Fed on hold.

The Swiss Market Index decreased by 0.07 percent Friday and finished at 8,772.44. The SMI ended the trading week with an overall gain of 1.4 percent. The Swiss Leader Index fell by 0.22 percent and the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.09 percent.

The index heavyweights turned in a mixed performance. Shares of Roche advanced by 0.6 percent, but Novartis fell by 0.3 percent and Nestle lost 0.4 percent.

The financial stocks were largely positive at the end of the trading week. Julius Baer and Credit Suisse both gained 0.8 percent each. Meanwhile, UBS finished the session unchanged.

Actelion sank by 5.4 percent Friday. The stock climbed by 2 percent on Thursday on reports that it had made an offer to acquire US based ZS Pharma. According to reports on Friday, the two companies are in talks on a possible strategic transaction.

Transocean dropped by 1.9 percent, due to the drop in crude oil prices. Sika declined by 1.5 percent and Clariant weakened by 1.2 percent. Swisscom decreased by 1.4 percent, extending its losses from the previous session.

Syngenta climbed by 0.9 percent, after Bernstein upgraded its rating on the stock to "Outperform" from "Market Perform."

Temenos surged by 11 percent. The banking software maker has received an order from the Scandinavian bank Nordea and increased its guidance.

Lindt & Sprüngli fell by 0.8 percent, after Goldman Sachs downgraded it to "Neutral" from "Buy."