The Swiss stock market finished to the downside on Friday, along with the rest of Europe. Some of the weakness was due to profit taking, after the market gained about 140 points over the past 5 sessions. Another reason for the weakness was investor concerns over the situation in Spain.
The yield on a 10-year Spanish government bond climbed above the critical 7 percent level on Friday. Spain also announced that it had reduced its growth forecast for the next two years. Meanwhile, Eurozone finance ministers gave their final nod of approval for a EUR 100 billion bailout deal for troubled Spanish banks.
The Swiss Market Index fell by 0.61 percent Friday and closed at 6,284.81. The SMI finished with a gain of 1.7 percent for the week. The Swiss Leader Index declined by 0.94 percent Friday and the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.63 percent.
Financial stocks were among the weakest performers on Friday. UBS dropped by 4.4 percent and Credit Suisse fell by 2.9 percent. Julius Baer fared better than the rest of the bank, with a loss of 0.9 percent. Swiss Life decreased by 1.7 percent and Baloise finished down by 1.1 percent.
Shares of Sulzer advanced by 2.7 percent on Friday. The pump maker reported a slight growth in profit for the first half of the year, but sales and order intake increased in double-digits.
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