The Swiss Stock Market Ended The Trading Week With A Gain

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended Friday's session with a substantial gain and finished the trading week in the green, despite some weakness during the middle of the week. Investor sentiment continued to be driven by the stimulus package that was revealed by the European Central Bank yesterday.

Investors were also pleased with some better than expected economic data from the Eurozone Friday. Eurozone private sector grew at the fastest pace in five months in January. The bigger than expected increase in the U.S. leading economic index for December also provided a boost in the afternoon.

The Swiss Market Index climbed by 2.02 percent Friday and finished at 8,161.16. The SMI ended the trading week with an overall gain of 3.3 percent. However, the index sank by 13 percent during the previous week. The Swiss Leader Index rose by 1.74 percent Friday and the Swiss Performance Index gained 1.91 percent.

Sika was the top gainer on Friday, with an increase of 4.4 percent. The company has reportedly entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire Axson Technologies. Givaudan also climbed by 3.8 percent and Actelion added 3.7 percent.

Holcim advanced by 1.7 percent. A bidding war is developing between CRH of Ireland and a consortium led by Blackstone for the assets that Holcim and Lafarge must sell in order to complete their proposed merger.

The index heavyweights all finished in positive territory Friday, providing support to the overall market. Roche climbed by 2.9 percent and Novartis gained 1.4 percent. Nestle ended the day higher by 3.2 percent.

Other notable gainers were Lonza, with an increase of 3.2 percent and Swatch, which rose by 3.0 percent. Geberit climbed by 2.9 percent and UBS added 2.5 percent. However, Credit Suisse finished with a loss of 1.8 percent.