The Swiss Stock Market Finished Down Wednesday, But Off Session Lows

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended Wednesday's session in negative territory, but finished well above the session lows. This was the first negative finish for the SMI since Tuesday of last week. The market turned in a weak performance early Wednesday, but recovered some ground in the afternoon.

The trading session was rather quiet, as investors prepare for the release of a number of earnings reports from blue chip companies. There was again, no U.S. economic data to sway the direction of trading. Investors are also looking forward to the policy meeting of the Federal Reserve next week.

The Swiss Market Index declined by 0.23 percent Wednesday and finished at 8,466.70. The Swiss Leader Index fell by 0.16 percent and the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.19 percent.

The largest decliner of the session was shares of ABB, which dropped by 3.6 percent. The engineering firm warned it would miss fourth-quarter profit expectations due to storm-related project delays and some operational issues in the Power Systems division.

Swiss Re fell by 1.0 percent, after BNP Paribas lowered its rating on the stock to "Neutral" from "Outperform." Swiss Life lost 0.7 percent and Zurich Insurance decreased by 0.6 percent.

Swisscom advanced by 1.8 percent, after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating to "Overweight" from "Underweight."

Among the index heavyweights, Nestle increased by 0.2 percent and Novartis climbed by 0.3 percent. However, Roche declined by 0.5 percent.