The Swiss Stock Market Finished With A Slight Decrease

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended Thursday's session with a very slight decline, finishing nearly unchanged, following yesterday's strong gain. The market began the session to the upside, but slipped into negative territory late in the afternoon.

Continued concerns over the situation in Greece weighed on investor sentiment Thursday. There have been conflicting reports on the state of talks between Athens and its international creditors. The outcome of a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Dresden today and tomorrow could shed more light on how Greece's international creditors seek to end the impasse.

The Swiss Market Index dipped by 0.02 percent Thursday and finished at 9,394.25. The Swiss Leader Index declined by 0.16 percent and the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.01 percent.

Clariant and Transocean were among the weakest performing stocks Thursday, falling by 2.2 percent and 2.8 percent respectively. Transocean announced that Esa Ikaheimonen has stepped down as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer effective immediately. Mark Mey has been named as his successor.

Syngenta decreased by 1.7 percent. Insurance stocks were also under pressure Thursday. Zurich Insurance dropped by 1.2 percent and Swiss Re lost 0.8 percent. Baloise declined by 0.7 percent and Swiss Life fell by 0.6 percent.

Galenica was the top performing stock of the session, with an increase of 3.7 percent. The company announced an exclusive agreement with Roche, for the sale of Mircera in the United States. Roche ended the session with an increase of 0.6 percent.

As for the rest of the index heavyweights, Novartis dipped by 0.1 percent and Nestle climbed by 0.1 percent.

SGS climbed by 0.7 percent, after Deutsche Bank upgraded its rating on the stock to "Buy" from "Hold." The bank also increased its price target on the stock. Sonova increased by 0.7 percent and Givaudan added 0.6 percent.

Richemont weakened by 0.2 percent, after Goldman Sachs lowered its price target on the stock, but maintained its "Buy" rating. Swatch gained 0.3 percent, after CEO Nick Hayek made some optimistic comments.