The Swiss Stock Market Climbed Monday, Sonova In Focus

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market finished the first session of the new trading week in positive territory. The market experienced gains in early trade and was driven higher by the sharp increase in the Eurozone trade surplus. While markets in Germany and in the U.S. were driven to new highs on Monday, the Swiss stock market is approaching an annual high.

Investors will be watching for further clues to when the Federal Reserve plans to begin tapering its stimulus measures when the minutes of the FOMC meeting held on October 29 and 30 are released on Wednesday.

The Swiss Market Index increased by 0.29 percent Monday and finished at 8,351.38. The Swiss Leader Index climbed by 0.38 percent and the Swiss Performance Index added 0.30 percent.

Sonova was one of the top performing stocks of the session, with a gain of 5.4 percent. The hearing aid manufacturer's first-half results beat expectations and it increased its full year forecast.

Among the index heavyweights, Roche increased by 0.7 percent Monday and Nestle added 0.6 percent. However, Novartis dropped by 0.5 percent. Swisscom fell by 0.9 percent and Syngenta by 0.8 percent.