The Swiss stock market ended Friday's session in positive territory. The positive finish was largely due to the strong performance by the index heavyweights, especially Nestle and Roche. The market languished around the unchanged level for the majority of the session, but climbed higher in the final half hour of trade.
The trading session was rather uneventful on Friday. The meeting between German Chancellor Merkel and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was held today. Merkel said Germany would wait till the troika report is released next month to assess the efforts undertaken by the Greek government to meet its fiscal targets. The better than expected U.S. durable goods orders report also had little impact on the market.
The Swiss Market Index climbed by 0.34 percent Friday and finished at 6,475.94. The SMI ended the trading week with a loss of 0.80 percent. The Swiss Leader Index increased by 0.24 percent Friday, but the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.02 percent.
Among the defensive heavyweights, Roche led the way with a gain of nearly 1.4 percent. Shares of Nestle increased by 0.7 percent and Novartis gained 0.5 percent.
Shares of banks finished in the red on Friday. UBS declined by 1.5 percent, while Credit Suisse closed lower by 0.05 percent. Julius Baer also finished down by 0.4 percent. Economically sensitive stocks were also under pressure. Lonza dropped by 1.6 percent, Richemont lost 1.4 percent and Adecco fell by 1.1 percent.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com