BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Swiss stock market ended Wednesday's session with a slight increase. The market got off to a positive start and charged higher in the first few hours of trade. However, the market then began to pare its gains and briefly dipped into the red in the late afternoon, before climbing back into positive territory.
Investors are looking forward to tomorrow's announcement from the European Central Bank. Traders are hopeful that the central bank will extend its asset purchases beyond March 2017. The ECB is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged for a sixth straight session.
The Swiss Market Index increased 0.23 percent Wednesday and finished at 7,930.25. The SMI reached an intraday high of 7,974 points. The Swiss Leader Index climbed 0.80 percent and the Swiss Performance Index added 0.13 percent.
Shares of Credit Suisse were in focus, due to its investor day in London. The stock surged 7.4 percent after the bank announced more than 1 billion Swiss francs ($991 million) in extra cost cuts.
UBS advanced 3.6 percent Wednesday and Julius Baer finished higher by 1.6 percent. The insurance stocks were also among the gainers. Swiss Re increased 1.3 percent, Swiss Life rose 1.1 percent and Zurich Insurance jumped 2.2 percent.
Galenica climbed 2.4 percent after it presented positive study results on Ferinject.
Among the cyclicals, LafargeHolcim advanced 1.6 percent, Adecco gained 1.5 percent and Dufry added 1.1 percent. The luxury goods companies also finished in the green. Swatch climbed 2.0 percent and Richemont increased 1.3 percent.
The index heavyweights all finished in negative territory Wednesday, which weighed on the rest of the market. Novartis weakened by 0.9 percent and Roche dropped 1.0 percent. Shares of Nestlé also decreased 0.4 percent.
Aryzta declined 2.7 percent Actelion surrendered 1.6 percent. Sonova dropped 1.4 percent and SGS lost 1.8 percent.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX