Swiss Stocks Stable As Euro Zone Growth Picks Up

(RTTNews) - Swiss stocks were basically flat Wednesday, bouncing back from early losses amid evidence the euro zone economic recovery is gathering momentum.

The euro area economy expanded at a faster pace in the fourth quarter, as initially estimated, underpinned by investment and exports, second estimates published by Eurostat showed.

Euro zone gross domestic product grew 0.3 percent from the third quarter, in line with the estimate released on February 14. That follows third quarter's 0.1 percent expansion.

The Swiss Market Index (SMI) closed 0.17 percent higher at 8,459.61.

The capped Swiss Leader Index (SLI) rose 0.21 percent to 1298.06 and the broad Swiss Performance Index (SPI) by 0.27 percent to 8,152.24 points.

Sygenta rose 1.2 percent amid news that China's is expected to approve Syngenta's MIR162 genetically modified corn next year.

Novartis rose 0.6 percent, while Roche lost 0.4 percent.

Italy's antitrust authority fined Novartis and Roche more than €90 million each Wednesday after finding the Swiss pharmaceutical giants had colluded to keep eye doctors from prescribing a cheaper drug.

Credit Suisse was up 1.4 percent, while Transocean gained 1.1 percent.