The Swiss Stock Market Finished Down Despite Late Recovery

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market got off to a weak start Thursday, as did the rest of the European markets, due to continued concerns over Greece. As the impasse between Greece and its international creditors continues to drag on, the possibility of a Greek default or a Greek exit of the Eurozone looks more likely. Eurozone finance ministers are meeting today in Luxembourg to discuss Greece.

The Swiss market staged a comeback in the afternoon, but still ended the session with a modest decrease. The strong rally in the U.S. equity markets was largely responsible for the rebound. Despite a modest improvement in the economic outlook, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday offered no explicit guidance indicating that it will soon raise interest rates from zero.

The central bank's forecasts reinforced the view that the eventual increase in rates will be gradual. Tame consumer price inflation data also generated some optimism about the outlook for rates in light of the Fed's insistence that it will be data dependent.

The Swiss National Bank left its key interest rates unchanged in the negative zone and asserted its intention to remain active in the currency market to weaken the franc.

The Swiss Market Index declined by 0.30 percent Thursday and finished at 8,880.29. The intraday low was around 8,740 points. The Swiss Leader Index fell by 0.35 percent and the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.31 percent.

Transocean was the biggest decliner Thursday, with a decrease of 4.6 percent. Shares of ABB dropped by 3.2 percent, due to some negative broker comments. UBS revised their earnings estimates on the stock. Geberit declined by 2.4 percent after UBS lowered its price target on the stock, but maintained its "Neutral" rating.

Kuehne + Nagel was another notable decliner Thursday, falling by 1.6 percent. Aryzta declined by 1.4 percent and Schindler weakened by 1.3 percent.

Swatch dropped by 0.8 percent and Richemont surrendered 0.6 percent after Swiss watch sales fell sharply in May. The May result was the weakest since 2009.

Financial stocks also turned in a weak performance. Credit Suisse decreased by 0.6 percent and UBS fell by 0.5 percent.

Among the index heavyweights, Novartis declined by 0.5 percent. Roche and Nestlé both increased by 0.1% each.

Lonza climbed by 1.9 percent and Syngenta gained 1.8 percent. Syngenta increased after Pierre Landolt stated in a business newspaper that he believes that Monsanto will be successful in its attempt to acquire the company.