Greek Optimism Drove The Swiss Stock Market Further To The Upside

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended Friday's session with another strong gain, bring its winning streak to a third day. The market broke through the 9,100 point level and ended the trading week with an increase. Investor optimism for a solution to the Greek debt crisis again drove the market higher, as well as the continued recover in the Chinese stock market.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras submitted a cash-for-reforms proposal to creditors on Thursday that includes spending cuts, pension reforms and tax hikes in exchange for a 53.5 billion euro three-year bailout, a third for the country, acceptance of which will pave the way for further negotiations between both sides.

The Swiss Market Index increased by 1.66 percent Friday and finished at 9,134.18. The SMI ended the trading week with an overall gain of 1.0 percent. The Swiss Leader Index rose by 1.72 percent and the Swiss Performance Index gained 1.61 percent.

Financial stocks again benefitted from the optimism for a Greek deal. Julius Baer surged by 3.2 percent, while Credit Suisse added 2.3 percent. UBS also finished with a gain of 1.8 percent.

Cyclicals also turned in a strong performance at the end of the trading week. Adecco climbed by 3.1 percent. The company has appointed Christophe Catoir as the Regional Head of France and member of the Executive Committee.

The luxury goods companies benefitted from the continued rebound in China. Swatch rose by 2.7 percent and Richemont added 2.0 percent.

Holcim gained 2.4 percent. The company confirmed that its CEO Bernard Fontana will step down once the merger with Lafarge has been completed.

The index heavyweights all finished to the upside Friday. Novartis climbed by 1.9 percent and Roche gained 1.5 percent. Shares of Nestle also finished higher by 1.1 percent.

Shares of Transocean bucked the overall trend of the market, with a decrease of 5.7 percent. Aryzta also dropped by 2.1 percent.