(RTTNews.com) – The Swiss stock market ended Friday’s session with a significant gain. After a positive start, the market continued to rise more or less continuously during the day. A solid performance from the index heavyweights and strong gains among the bank stocks helped to propel the market higher.
Investors were encouraged by today’s strong U.S. jobs report. Employment jumped by 227,000 jobs in January, topping expectations for an increase of about 175,000 jobs.
The Swiss Market Index increased by 0.90 percent Friday and finished at 8,350.84. The SMI ended the trading week with an overall loss of 0.3 percent. The Swiss Leader Index climbed 0.75 percent Friday and the Swiss Performance Index added 0.83 percent.
Bank stocks jumped on reports that U.S. President Donald Trump will take action to reduce regulation on the industry. UBS advanced 1.9 percent and Credit Suisse gained 1.8 percent.
Bâloise climbed 1.7 percent and Swiss Life rose 1.6 percent. LafargeHolcim also closed higher by 1.5 percent.
The index heavyweights all finished solidly in positive territory Friday. Novartis and Nestlé both increased by 1.2 percent and Roche gained 1.0 percent.
Swatch was among the weakest performing stocks of the session, with a loss of 1.9 percent. Dufry dropped 0.6 percent and Syngenta fell 0.5 percent.
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Plantations International