The Swiss Stock Market Climbed Ahead Of Federal Reserve Announcement

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended Wednesday's session in positive territory. The rest of the European markets finished with mixed results. Notably, the German DAX finished in the red. The Swiss market received a boost from the positive performance of its defensive heavyweights.

Investors are awaiting the announcement from the Federal Reserve, which will conclude its 2-day policy meeting later today. The Fed is not expected to announce an increase in interest rates, but traders will be paying close attention to any changes to the accompanying statement. In light of upbeat employment data, many analysts expect the Fed to remove the word "patient" regarding when it plans to begin normalizing monetary policy.

The Swiss Market Index climbed by 0.63 percent Wednesday and finished at 9,256.24. The Swiss Leader Index increased by 0.51 percent and the Swiss Performance Index gained 0.53 percent.

The index heavyweights all finished in the green Wednesday. Roche advanced by 1.2 percent and Novartis added 0.5 percent. Shares of Nestle also closed up by 0.7 percent.

Financial stocks also turned in a positive performance. Julius Baer and Credit Suisse both advanced by 1.8 percent. UBS also finished higher by 0.6 percent.

Holcim surged by 2.7 percent. According to media reports, the company is involved in intense discussions with Lafarge on the terms of their merger deal.

Transocean was the largest gainer Wednesday, rising by 4.2 percent. The stock added to its gain of 1.7 percent during the previous session. However, since the beginning of the year, the stock is still down by about 20 percent.