BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Swiss stock market dipped into negative territory briefly Tuesday morning and meandered around the 9,300 point level for a time. The market climbed into the green in the afternoon, following the positive open on Wall Street.
The Federal Reserve has kicked off its 2-day policy meeting and will announce its decision after the European close tomorrow. The Fed is widely expected to hike interest rates by a quarter point. The European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank are all slated to announce their policy decisions on Thursday.
The Swiss Market Index increased by 0.50 percent Tuesday and closed at 9,361.41. The Swiss Leader Index climbed 0.45 percent and the Swiss Performance Index added 0.42 percent.
Lonza was among the best performing stocks Tuesday, climbing 2.5 percent. Institutional investors have reportedly increased their positions in Lonza.
Sonova advanced 1.5 percent and Logitech rose 1.0 percent. UBS, Credit Suisse and Julius Baer finished higher by 0.5 percent each.
Zurich Insurance Group gained 0.4 percent after signing a pact to acquire ANZ's life insurance businesses, OnePath Life, in Australia for A$2.85 billion or $2.14 billion.
The index heavyweights all finished in the green Tuesday. Novartis increased 0.7 percent, Nestlé gained 0.6 percent and Roche added 0.5 percent.
Swatch was among the weakest performing stocks Tuesday, dropping 0.7 percent. The pullback was attributed to profit taking after yesterday's strong gain.
Dufry fell 0.7 percent, adding to the losses from the previous session.
In the broad market, Dormakaba sank 6.2 percent following a downgrade by UBS to 'Sell' from 'Neutral'.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX