The Swiss Stock Market Pulled Back Ahead Of Fed Meeting

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended Tuesday's session with a loss, following the gains of the previous session. Investors continued to play it cautious ahead of Wednesday's announcement from the Federal Reserve. Investors are eagerly awaiting an indication of when the Fed will begin to taper its stimulus measures.

The impending passage of the U.S. budget deal had little impact on the Swiss market Tuesday. Consumer prices in the U.S. came in unchanged in the month of November, which was in line with expectations. However, homebuilder confidence improved by much more than anticipated in the month of December.

The Swiss Market Index declined by 0.32 percent Tuesday and finished at 7,830.98. The Swiss Leader Index fell by 0.39 percent and the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.31 percent.

Swiss Re's Group Chief Financial Officer George Quinn announced he would step down from his role, effective April 30, 2014, to join Zurich Insurance Group. Zurich Insurance is rose by 1.9 percent, while Swiss Re fell by 1.0 percent.

Bank stocks turned in a weak performance Tuesday. Julius Baer dropped by 3.6 percent. Credit Suisse declined by 1.7 percent and UBS fell by 1.2 percent.

Nestle provided some support to the overall market, rising by 0.5 percent. However, Roche and Novartis fell by 0.7 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.