The Swiss Stock Market Finished Hardly Changed

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market took a breather on Friday, following the gains of the last few sessions. The market ended the session barely changed, with only a very slight dip in price. The weak performance of the pharma heavyweights pressured the overall market at the end of the week.

Friday's breather was not unexpected, after the U.S. markets achieved record highs yesterday. The U.S. markets got off to a weak start today, following the release of the weaker than expected retail sales report. U.S. producer prices and consumer sentiment were also disappointing.

The Swiss Market Index decreased 0.01 percent Friday and finished at 8,295.04. The SMI ended the trading week with an overall increase of 1.2 percent. The Swiss Leader Index increased 0.06 percent Friday and the Swiss Performance Index finished more or less unchanged.

Zurich Insurance Group and Swiss Life were among the top gainers Thursday, following their quarterly reports. Zurich was up 7.5 percent, while Swiss Life rose 5.4 percent. However, both stocks endured some profit taking Friday, falling by 0.3 percent and 1.0 percent respectively.

Dufry was another notable decliner, with a loss of 1.3. Syngenta also dropped 1.1 percent.

Among the index heavyweights, Novartis declined 0.6 percent and Roche fell 0.2 percent. Meanwhile, Nestle finished with a gain of 0.4 percent.

The luxury goods companies were among the gainers at the end of the trading week. Richemont climbed 1.6 percent and Swatch added 0.5 percent.

Credit Suisse advanced 1.5 percent, while, UBS gained 0.6 percent.

Schindler increased 0.5 percent after it received a multi million order in the U.S.