The Swiss stock market closed with a small loss on Thursday. The market got off to a slow start following yesterday's announcement by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The Fed announced that it had decided to extend Operation Twist, a bond exchange program that was due to expire this month. However, the Fed did not commit to a third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, as many investors had hoped.
Weak economic data from China and Europe also had a negative effect on the markets in early trade. The market was also impacted by some weaker than expected economic results from the U.S. in the afternoon.
The Swiss Market Index fell by 0.10 percent Thursday and closed at 6,012.19. The Swiss Leader Index declined by 0.17 percent and the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.17 percent.
Novartis finished with a gain of 0.80 percent Thursday and Roche closed higher by 0.50. However, Nestle declined by 0.50 percent. Holcim gained 2.14 percent after it was upgraded to "Overweight" from "Underweight" at HSBC.
Swiss Life rose by 1.99 percent, after Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock to "Buy" from "Hold." The rest of the insurance stocks finished the day in the red. Swiss Re fell by 0.4 percent, Baloise lost 1.3 percent and Zurich declined by 1.1 percent.
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com
Market Analysis