The Swiss Stock Market Finished Nearly Unchanged Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended Thursday's session nearly unchanged, finishing with a very slight gain. While the rest of the European markets closed firmly to the upside, the gain in Switzerland was more subdued because of its defensive alignment.

The market received support from U.S. economic data and from positive U.S. earnings from companies like Morgan Stanley. U.S. initial jobless claims pulled back by more than expected for the week, while the Philly Fed index unexpectedly increased.

The Swiss Market Index increased by 0.01 percent Thursday and finished at 7,929.01. The Swiss Leader Index climbed by 0.45 percent and the Swiss Performance Index gained 0.12 percent.

Financial stocks turned in a strong performance Thursday. Credit Suisse advanced by 1.9 percent and UBS increased by 2.1 percent. Julius Baer also finished with a gain of 2.3 percent. Among the insurers, Baloise climbed by 2.3 percent and Swiss Re added 2.1 percent.

Actelion rose by 1.8 percent, following the release of its half-year results. Schindler climbed by 1.7 percent, despite an appeal denial by the European Court of Justice, regarding an antitrust fine from 2007.

The defensive heavyweights all finished in negative territory. Novartis dropped by 0.7 percent and Roche lost 0.6 percent. Nestle also finished lower by 0.8 percent.