The Swiss Stock Market Fell Again & Finished Negative For The Week

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended Friday's session in the red, brining its losing streak to four consecutive sessions. The continued decline results in a significant loss for the week.

The Swiss market got off to a weak start Friday and gave up more ground as the session wore on. Another drop in the pharmaceutical heavyweights pressured the overall market. Meanwhile, shares of the big banks recovered some of their recent losses.

The Swiss Market Index decreased 0.61 percent Friday and finished at 7,813.68. The SMI ended the trading week with an overall loss of 2.3 percent. The Swiss Leader Index fell 0.50 percent and the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.46 percent.

Roche dropped 1.9 percent and Novartis weakened by 1.4 percent. The stocks extended their significant losses from the previous session. Fellow pharma stock Actelion was under even more intense pressure Friday, with a loss of 5.5 percent.

On its final day of trading in the SMI, shares of Transocean declined 4.7 percent. The stock will be delisted from the Swiss stock exchange at the end of the month and will then only be traded in the U.S. Swiss Life will take its place in the index. Swiss Life fell 1.1 percent Friday.

As for the rest of the insurance stocks, Zurich Insurance surrendered 0.4 percent and Swiss Re decreased 0.7 percent. Baloise ended the day with a gain of 0.3 percent.

Sika dropped 3.0 percent Givaudan declined 2.9 percent. Geberit finished lower by 1.8 percent, after HSBC downgraded its rating on the stock to "Hold" from "Buy."

The banks were among the best performing stocks at the end of the trading week. Credit Suisse advanced 2.4 percent and UBS climbed 1.6 percent. Notable gains also came from LafargeHolcim, which increased 2.1 percent. Aryzta rose 2.0 percent and Richemont added 1.5 percent.

In the broad market, Sunrise surged 6.1 percent after Germany's Freenet took a major stake in the telecom company.