The Swiss Stock Market Finished Modestly Higher After Profit Taking

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market finished Tuesday's session well off its intraday high, but still managed a modest gain. Early gains were erased by profit taking in the afternoon, largely due to the weak performance of the U.S. markets. The U.S. markets returned to action today following a Monday holiday, but were negatively impacted by falling oil prices and some weak corporate earnings reports.

Early gains in Europe were driven by investor optimism for further quantitative easing measures from the European Central Bank. The ECB will hold its monetary policy meeting on Thursday and an announcement regarding further stimulus is largely expected.

The Swiss Market Index finished with a gain of 0.32 percent Tuesday and closed at 8,178.90. The SMI reached an intraday high of 8,274. The Swiss Leader Index climbed by 0.05 percent and the Swiss Performance Index gained 0.21 percent.

Financial stocks were among the best performers Tuesday. Credit Suisse increased by 1.7 percent and Julius Baer gained 2.1 percent. UBS also finished with a gain of 0.4 percent. Swiss Re advanced by 0.6 percent and Zurich Insurance added 0.5 percent. However, Swiss Life declined by 1.2 percent and Baloise lost 0.5 percent.

Novartis climbed by 0.9 percent and Roche added 0.7 percent. Fellow index heavyweight Nestle finished with a loss of 0.3 percent.

Shares of Transocean dropped by 2.5 percent. Energy stocks were under pressure after the price of a barrel of oil dropped again Tuesday. Other notable decliners were Aryzta, which fell by 2.7 percent and Sika, which lost 2.5 percent. Swatch also decreased by 0.8 percent.