The Swiss Stock Market Finished Slightly Higher On Quiet Day

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended Friday's session with a modest increase. The market fluctuated between small gains and small losses over the course of the trading session. However, following the terrorist attacks in Paris last week, the market finished with a solid gain this week.

There was no U.S. economic news Friday and there was very little global economic data to drive trading. Investors remained focused on the central banks, with the European Central Bank meeting now less than two weeks away. In remarks to the Frankfurt European Banking Congress today, Mario Draghi pledged that the ECB would do what it must to raise inflation as quickly as possible.

The Swiss Market Index climbed 0.08 percent Friday and finished at 9,015.83. The SMI ended the trading week with an overall gain of 3.1 percent. The Swiss Performance Index gained 0.09 percent Friday, but the Swiss Leader Index dipped 0.02 percent.

Shares of Swatch climbed 1.9 percent Friday. The stock was under pressure yesterday, after the publication of weaker than expected watch export data. Credit Suisse confirmed its "outperform" rating on the stock, but cut its price target. Meanwhile, competitor Richemont finished up by 0.3 percent.

Among the index heavyweights, Roche increased 0.6 percent and Novartis added 0.4 percent. Roche announced the approval of Xeloda in Japan on Friday. Shares of Nestle ended the session with a loss of 0.07 percent.

Transocean was among the worst performing stocks Friday, with a loss of 3.1 percent. Credit Suisse dropped 2.9 percent and UBS lost 0.8 percent. Galenica also surrendered 0.8 percent.

In the broad market, OC Oerlikon surged 6.0 percent after the sale of its Leybold Vacuum division to Sweden's Atlas Copco.