The Swiss Stock Market Finished Lower Following U.S. Jobs Report

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended Friday's session in negative territory, but finished the week with an overall gain. The market got off to a positive start to Friday's session, but turned negative after the release of the U.S. jobs report for June.

Employment in the U.S. increased by more than anticipated in June and the employment growth for the previous two months was revised sharply upward. The better than expected data fueled fears that the Federal Reserve will begin tapering its monetary policy sooner rather than later.

The Swiss Market Index declined by 0.63 percent Friday and finished at 7,781.98. The SMI ended the trading week with an increase of 1.3 percent. The Swiss Leader Index fell by 0.61 percent Friday and the Swiss Performance Index also lost 0.61 percent.

The biggest decliner of the session was Holcim, with a loss of 2.4 percent. Richemont dropped by 1.2 percent and Clariant fell by 0.8 percent. Swisscom declined by 1.7 percent and ABB lost 0.9 percent.

Among the index heavyweight, Roche was the largest decliner, finishing down by 0.8 percent. Novartis decreased by 0.4 percent and Nestle fell by 0.6 percent. Novartis was granted European Commission approval for a new indication for Lucentis.