The Swiss Stock Market Finished With A Slight Gain Monday

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market began the new trading week in positive territory. The trading session was light on news and trading action was also light, due to a bank holiday in the U.K. However, the release of some U.S. data in the afternoon proved notable.

Investors remain concerned over when the tapering of stimulus measures by the Federal Reserve will begin. However, Friday's disappointing U.S. new-home sales and the larger than expected decline in U.S. durable goods orders in the afternoon today appears to have eased those concerns to some extent.

The Swiss Market Index increased by 0.19 percent Monday and finished at 8,022.20. The Swiss Leader Index dipped by 0.03 percent, but the Swiss Performance Index climbed by 0.17 percent.

The positive performance of the index heavyweights provided support to the overall market Monday. Nestle increased by 0.8 percent, Roche climbed by 0.6 percent and Novartis added 0.1 percent. Schindler was another notable gainer, finishing higher by 1.1 percent.

Financial stocks turned in a weak performance Monday. UBS dropped by 1.0 percent, while Credit Suisse lost 0.2 percent. Julius Baer also dipped by 0.1 percent. Swiss Life fell by 0.8 percent and Zurich Insurance decreased by 0.3 percent.