The Swiss Stock Market Pulled Back From Yesterday's New High

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market finished in the red Thursday, after it reached a new high for the year during the previous trading session. Today's loss put a halt to a 7-session winning streak. The pull back was attributed to profit taking following the recent run up and caution ahead of Friday's U.S. employment report.

The market got off to a weak start, before settling into a narrow trading range. The decline worsened in the afternoon, following the weak opening of the U.S. markets. Shares of Zurich Insurance and Transocean were in focus Thursday.

The Swiss Market Index declined by 0.72 percent Thursday and finished at 9,457.99. The intraday high was 9,518 points. The Swiss Leader Index fell by 0.67 percent and the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.67 percent.

The weakest performing stock was Zurich Insurance, with a loss of 4.6 percent. The company reported a sharp decrease in profit for the first half of the year and fell short of expectations.

Baloise decreased by 0.8 percent and Swiss Life lost 0.3 percent. Swiss Re finished with a gain of 0.2 percent. Credit Suisse and Julius Baer both dropped by 0.8 percent each, while UBS rose by 0.1 percent.

Syngenta sank by 2.0 percent and Adecco weakened by 1.6 percent. Lonza decreased by 1.3 percent and Actelion surrendered 1.1 percent.

The index heavyweights all finished in the negative, which pressured the overall market. Novartis dropped by 0.8 percent and Roche lost 0.6 percent. Shares of Nestle also tumbled by 0.5 percent.

Transocean was the top gainer of the session, with an increased of 6.3 percent. The deep-sea oil exploration company surprised with its quarterly sales figures and very positive earnings. The stock was up 10.5 percent at its peak today.