The Swiss Stock Market Finished With A Slight Gain, Bringing It To 8,700

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market concluded the first day of the new trading week with a modest increase. There was no clear direction during the trading session, with the market fluctuating between gains and losses several times. There was very little economic data or news to drive the direction of trading. Markets in the United States were open, but the Columbus Day holiday meant no economic data or big corporate news.

Investors will be watching for some important corporate financial releases this week. Kuehne + Nagel is expected to report Tuesday, while Syngenta is slated for Thursday and Nestlé will report on Friday. There will also be a large number of important reports from the U.S. this week, starting with a number of their large banks.

The Swiss Market Index climbed 0.30 percent Monday and finished at 8,706.11. The Swiss Performance Index also gained 0.26 percent, but the Swiss Leader Index dipped 0.05 percent.

The positive performance of the index heavyweights was the main reason the market ended the day in the green. Roche increased by 0.8 percent, Novartis added 0.7 percent and Nestlé gained 0.5 percent. Novartis reported positive trial data for the psoriasis drug Cosentyx. Roche also received an order from the Ministry of Health in Holland for the Cobas HPV testing, its first in a European country.

Credit Suisse was the top gainer of the session, with an increase of 1.6 percent. According to media reports, the lender plans to cut costs by 7 percent to 10 percent, which would translate into an annual reduction of 1.5 to 2 billion Swiss francs for the group. Meanwhile, UBS finished the day unchanged and Julius Baer fell 1.0 percent.

Another notable upside performance was turned in by Galenica, with a gain of 1.5 percent. Swatch climbed 0.5 percent and Swiss Life added 0.4 percent.

Transocean dropped 3.2 percent Monday. The move was attributed to profit taking, after is surged by 27 percent last week.

LafargeHolcim decreased 3.2 percent, after a surprise change in CFO. Ron Wirahadiraksa has been named as the replacement for Thomas Aebischer in the role of Chief Financial Officer.