BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Swiss stock market ended Friday's session with another sharp pull back. The market was down four out of five sessions and ended the week with a substantial loss.
The Chinese stock market finished with a gain of nearly 2 percent Friday, although the move was mainly due to government intervention. After trading was halted for the second time this week on Thursday, China's securities regulator suspended the market's new circuit breaker mechanism and the country's central bank guided the yuan a shade higher for the first time in nine days.
In the afternoon, the U.S. employment report came in stronger than expected, which provided support to the Swiss market for a brief period. However, the market sold off in the final hours of trade. The prevailing opinion is that strong economic data will accelerate the tightening cycle in the U.S.
The Swiss Market Index declined 2.28 percent Friday and finished at 8,257.28. The SMI finished the trading week with an overall loss of 6.4 percent. The Swiss Leader Index fell 2.19 percent Friday and the Swiss Performance Index lost 2.10 percent.
Transocean was the weakest performing stock, with a loss of 7.5 percent. Energy stocks were under pressure after crude oil prices slipped back near 12 year lows.
UBS dropped 5.5 percent and CS surrendered 3.7 percent. Credit Suisse had published retrospectively revised earnings figures for the past five years in the morning.
The pharmaceutical heavyweights were under heavy pressure Friday. Novartis and Roche decreased by 2.6 percent each. Shares of Nestle also finished lower by 1.5 percent.
ABB dropped 2.4 percent. The company is heavily involved in Asia and particularly in China. Concerns over the health of the Chinese economy has investors concerned about ABB financial results. Nomura also trimmed its price target on ABB.
Givaudan fell by nearly 2 percent, while Schindler and Geberit weakened by 1.8 percent each. Clariant and Kuehne + Nagel both decreased by 1.7 percent.
Baloise declined 1.9 percent and Swiss Life surrendered 1.7 percent. Zurich Insurance also weakened by 1.7 percent.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX