The Swiss Stock Market Fell After Lackluster U.S. Jobs Report

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended Friday's session in the red, extending its losing streak to three sessions. The market got off to a weak start, but remained in a sideways trend for much of the session. However, the market weakened further following the release of the somewhat disappointing U.S. jobs report.

U.S. employment climbed by 156,000 jobs in September compared to estimates for an increase of about 176,000 jobs. The unemployment rate also edged up to 5.0 percent in September from 4.9 percent in August. Expectations had been for no change in the unemployment rate. The results are still viewed as good enough for the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates in December.

Traders were also in a nervous mood after the British pound briefly plunged over 6 percent in Asian trade. Some traders speculated the possibility of human error, or a so-called "fat finger" trade or a rogue automated algorithm, which adds selling pressure at a time of day where liquidity is typically low.

The Swiss Market Index decreased 0.56 percent Friday and finished at 8,124.59. The SMI ended the trading week with an overall loss of 0.2 percent. The Swiss Leader Index dropped 0.51 percent Friday and the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.62 percent.

Swiss Re was the top performing stock of the session, with an increase of 1.4 percent. The stock got off to a weak start and had been under pressure for the last few sessions due to concerns about the possible damages of the hurricane "Matthew". The storm has now hit Florida and has been downgraded to a category III, which has somewhat softened the initial worry. Zurich Insurance also gained 0.7 percent.

Dufry dropped 1.9 percent and Adecco lost 1.2 percent. Index heavyweight Nestlé also weakened by 1.2 percent. Novartis and Roche both closed lower by 0.4 percent.

Private bank Julius Baer declined 1.3 percent. UBS surrendered 0.7 percent and Credit Suisse fell 0.8 percent.

Kuehne + Nagel and LafargeHolcim both finished lower by over 1 percent. Actelion forfeited 0.8 percent after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to "Equal weight" from "Overweight."