The Swiss Stock Market Finished With A Modest Gain After Early Gains Erode

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market got off to a strong start Thursday, but finished the session with only a slight increase. The market posted significant gains in the first half of the session and broke out past the 9,000 point level. However, early gains began to erode despite positive U.S. economic data. The U.S. equity markets were relatively flat when they began their trading day.

Investors were focused on the minutes of the most recent meetings of both the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank. The Fed minutes signaled late Wednesday that it is likely to raise interest rates next month. Meanwhile, the ECB minutes released today suggest that further stimulus measures are likely at its next meeting in 2 weeks.

The Swiss Market Index increased 0.20 percent Thursday and finished at 9,008.65. The SMI hit an intraday high of 9,081 points. The Swiss Leader Index rose 0.15 percent and the Swiss Performance Index gained 0.19 percent.

Julius Baer climbed 2.1 percent, but had been up by as much as 3.5 percent. The stock was up on investor hopes for leniency in its tax dispute with the U.S. UBS advanced 1.3 percent and Credit Suisse added 0.2 percent. Baloise increased 0.9 percent, Swiss Life rose 0.7 percent and Zurich Insurance gained 0.6 percent.

Aryzta finished higher by 3.0 percent and Adecco added 1.8 percent. Sonova climbed 1.5 percent and Givaudan rose 1.3 percent.

Among the index heavyweights, Nestle advanced 0.4 percent and Novartis added 0.3 percent. However, Roche finished with a loss of 0.04 percent.

Swisscom rose 0.5 percent. The company was fined $7.88 million by the Competition Commission for abuse of a dominant position.

Syngenta decreased by 2.8 percent Thursday, but was up 3 percent yesterday. The stock has been driven higher in the last few days by takeover speculation. Transocean dropped 3.4 percent due to lower oil prices and Kuehne + Nagel surrendered 2.2 percent.

Richemont dipped 0.1 percent and Swatch declined 1.1 percent on weak watch export data.