The Swiss Stock Market Finished Higher Despite Weak U.S. Jobs Report

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended Friday's session in the green, following the slightly correction of the previous day. However, the market finished off its highs, due to the weaker than expected U.S. jobs report for December.

U.S. non-farm payroll employment edged up by 74,000 jobs in December compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 200,000 jobs. The U.S. unemployment rate also dropped to 6.7 percent in December, its lowest level since October of 2008.

The Swiss Market Index increased by 0.83 percent Friday and finished at 8,365.12. The SMI ended the trading week with an overall gain of 1.1 percent. The Swiss Leader Index climbed by 0.93 percent and the Swiss Performance Index gained 0.79 percent.

Luxury goods companies were among the best performing stocks at the end of the week. Swatch rose by 3.6 percent, after it issued a positive outlook for 2014. Richemont also gained 4.0 percent.

Kuehne + Nagel advanced by 3.6 percent and Actelion gained 3.1 percent. Actelion rose after the U.S. Department of Justice closed its investigation against the U.S. subsidiary of Allschwiler. The focus was on the sales and marketing practices for the drug Tracleer. Clariant also finished up by 1.9 percent, after JP Morgan gave it an "Overweight" rating.