The Swiss Stock Market Advanced Further, But Finished Off Session Highs

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market finished higher for the second day in a row Wednesday. However, the market pared its gains in the afternoon and finished off its session highs. A reversal in the price of crude oil contributed to the pull back in late trade, following the release of the U.S. inventory data.

The market was up sharply in early trade after the better than expected trade data released by China. After investor concerns over the health of the Chinese economy sparked sharp global losses in equities last week, today's early action was a bit of a relief rally.

The Swiss Market Index increased 0.99 percent Wednesday and finished at 8,414.83. The SMI hit an intraday high of 8,487 points. The Swiss Leader Index climbed 0.96 percent and the Swiss Performance Index added 0.93 percent.

Geberit was the top performing stock of the session, with a gain of 4.0 percent. Shares of the sanitary equipment maker climbed after its full year 2015 sales met expectations.

Shares of Givaudan advanced 2.7 percent, following a "Buy" recommendation from Berenberg.

Cyclicals stocks were among the best performing stocks Wednesday. SGS increased 2.0 percent and Adecco added 1.4 percent. Kuehne + Nagel climbed 1.3 percent and Schindler rose 1.2 percent. Galenica bounced back from recent losses and finished higher by 1.5 percent.

Among the insurance names, Swiss Re advanced 1.5 percent and Baloise increased 1.3 percent. The big banks also posted modest gains. UBS climbed 0.5 percent and Credit Suisse added 0.2 percent.

The index heavyweights all finished in positive territory. Novartis increased 1.2 percent and Roche added 0.9 percent. Shares of Nestlé also finished higher by 1.1 percent.

Shares of offshore oil driller Transocean were under pressure after crude oil prices reversed early gains. The stock closed down 0.8 percent.