The Swiss Stock Market Ended A Volatile Session With A Modest Loss

(RTTNews) - While the rest of Europe finished Thursday's session with strong gains, the Swiss stock market ended a volatile trading day with a small decrease. The market declined for the majority of the morning and was down 1.8 percent at its lowest point. The market began to stabilize around midday and support from the strong performance of the U.S. market briefly pushed it into positive territory in late trade.

The European Central Bank announced its long anticipated stimulus plan at its monetary policy meeting Thursday. The ECB will begin making monthly purchases of public and private sector securities in the amount of EUR 60 billion in March. The asset purchases are intended to be carried out until end-September 2016.

The Swiss Market Index finished with a loss of 0.11 percent Thursday, closing at 7,999.48. The intraday low was 7,860. The Swiss Leader Index climbed by 0.21 percent, but the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.11 percent.

Pharmaceutical giant Roche dropped by 2.4 percent Thursday and Novartis fell by 0.5 percent. However, fellow index heavyweight Nestle finished with a gain of 0.5 percent.

UBS climbed by 3.0 percent, while Credit Suisse advanced by 2.3 percent. Sika increased by 3.1 percent, Adecco gained 2.9 percent and ABB added 2.2 percent. Holcim also finished higher by 1.3 percent.

Shares of Logitech surged by 7.4 percent, after its better than expected third quarter earnings report. Logitech also increased its profitability outlook for fiscal year 2015.

Actelion and Sonova both dropped by 3.1 percent Thursday. Lonza fell by 1.2 percent and SGS lost 1.5. Galenica declined by another 1.9 percent, following yesterday's weaker than expected sales report.