The Swiss Stock Market Finished Higher On Support From Novartis

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended the first session of the new trading week with an increase. The market got off to a weak start and fell below the 8,000 point level. However, the market quickly reversed and hit an intraday high of 8,74 points before midday.

Disappointing Eurozone private sector data caused the Swiss market to pare its gains, but it remained in positive territory for the rest of the session. The positive performance of index heavyweight Novartis provided support to the overall market.

The Swiss Market Index increased 0.41 percent Monday and finished at 8,038.46. The Swiss Leader Index gained 0.19 percent and the Swiss Performance Index rose 0.52 percent.

Pharma giant Novartis surged 2.6 percent Monday. U.S. and European cardiologists have endorsed the company's Entresto heart medication on new guidelines for the treatment of heart failure.

Roche finished with a gain of 0.3 percent and Actelion rose 0.1 percent. third defensive heavyweight, Nestle, gained 0.3 percent.

Galenica increased 0.5 percent after the European society of cardiologists issued a positive recommendation for the iron drug Ferinject. Aryzta climbed 1.2 percent and Sonova added 0.9 percent. ABB and Adecco both finished up by 0.8 percent.

Richemont dropped 3.5 percent. The company reported weak full year figures at the end of the previous week. JPMorgan and Citigroup both downgraded their respective ratings on the stock Monday.

Swatch also weakened by 2.3 percent. Kepler downgraded its rating on the stock to "Reduce" from "Buy." LafargeHolcim decreased 1.0 percent and Swisscom fell 2.0 percent.

Zurich Insurance declined 0.6 percent and Baloise dipped 0.1 percent. Swiss Re increased 0.4 percent and Swiss Life added 0.3 percent. UBS rose 0.3 percent, Credit Suisse advanced 1.1 percent and Julius Baer gained 0.4 percent.