The Swiss Stock Market Finished With A Modest Gain Friday

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended Friday's session with a slight gain, adding to the strong gains of the previous session. Shares of Julius Baer were in focus, after the company reported weaker than expected results.

Economic data from Europe and the United States had little impact on the Swiss market. The mood among investors remained positive, following yesterday's comments from Federal Reserve Chairman nominee Janet Yellen. Yellen defended the Fed's ultra-easy monetary policy and warned that unemployment remains too high for the Fed to consider significantly scaling back its $85 billion a month in asset purchases.

The Swiss Market Index increased by 0.27 percent Friday and finished at 8,327.31. The SMI finished the trading week with an overall increase of 1.0 percent. The Swiss Leader Index climbed by 0.29 percent and the Swiss Performance Index gained 0.30 percent.

Julius Baer declined by 1.6 percent Friday. The lender said its Assets under Management were 31 percent higher at the end of October, compared to the end of 2012, benefiting from a recent acquisition. Credit Suisse also fell by 0.4 percent and UBS lost 0.2 percent.

Swiss Life rose by 0.8 percent, continuing the upward trend since it reported 9-month results on Tuesday. Berenberg upgraded its rating on the stock to "Buy." Zurich Insurance also gained 0.6 percent, following yesterday's earnings report.

Share of Swatch advanced by 2.7 percent, after CEO Nick Hayek was optimistic in a newspaper interview. Hayek expects his company to generate "clearly double-digit" growth next year. Peer Richemont also climbed by 2.4 percent.