The Swiss Stock Market Finished With A Slight Dip

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended the first session of the new trading week with a modest decrease. The market got off to a positive start, rising briefly above 8,300 points, before slipping into negative territory. In the afternoon, the market hit its intraday low, but recovered some losses going into the close.

The Swiss market rallied during the final 2 trading sessions of the previous trading week, along with the rest of the global equity markets. However, that momentum was impacted Monday by the weakening of crude oil prices. German business confidence also eased sharply at the start of the year to its weakest level in eleven months.

The Swiss Market Index decreased 0.21 percent Monday and finished at 8,253.34. The SMI hit an intraday high of 8,301 points and a low of 8,191 points. The Swiss Leader Index dropped 0.41 percent and the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.17 percent.

LafargeHolcim was the weakest performer of the session, with a loss of 4.2 percent. Eric Olsen, CEO of the cement group, stated in an interview in the Swiss paper Sonntagszeitung over the weekend that he believes overcapacity should result in some job cuts. The greatest overcapacity is in China, Indonesia, Brazil and Greece.

Other cyclical stocks were also under pressure Monday. Clariant declined 1.6 percent and Schindler fell 1.5 percent. Transocean also weakened by 1.2 percent due to falling crude oil prices.

Financial stocks also turned in a weak performance at the start of the new trading week. Credit Suisse dropped 1.9 percent and UBS fell 1.8 percent. Julius Baer also finished lower by 1.2 percent.

Zurich Insurance surrendered 1.7 percent. Exane BNP downgraded its rating on the stock to "Neutral" from "Outperform."

The index heavyweights finished mostly in the green. Roche rose 0.1 percent and Nestlé climbed 0.4 percent. Shares of Novartis ended the session unchanged.

Lonza increased 2.0 and Galenica added 1.8 percent. Actelion climbed 1.7 percent and Givaudan gained 1.4 percent. Geberit rose 1.4 percent after Credit Suisse upgraded its rating to 'Outperform' from 'Neutral.'