BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Swiss stock market advanced on all three days of its holiday shortened trading week. The latest gains drove the market to a new all-time high on Friday, reaching an intraday high of 9,558 points in the afternoon.
The market maintained its gains at the end of the trading week, despite the weaker than expected U.S. jobs report for December. Non-farm payroll employment in the U.S. climbed by 148,000 jobs in December after spiking by an upwardly revised 252,000 jobs in November. Economists had expected employment to increase by 190,000 jobs.
The Swiss Market Index increased by 0.50 percent Friday and finished at 9,556.98. The SMI ended the trading week with an overall gain of 1.9 percent. The Swiss Leader Index climbed 0.58 percent Friday and the Swiss Performance Index added 0.58 percent.
Vifor Pharma continued its recent uptrend, with an increase of 3.6 percent. The company announced yesterday that the European Medicines Agency had approved an application for a conditional distribution license for the drug Avacopan.
Adecco climbed 2.0 percent after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating on the stock to 'Equal Weight.' Sonova advanced 2.1 percent, Logitech rose 1.9 percent and Partners Group added 1.6 percent.
Kuehne + Nagel finished higher by 0.9 percent after Barclays increased its price target on the stock.
Index heavyweight Novartis gained 1.2 percent. Bloomberg reports that the company is considering selling more of its U.S. generics business.
Credit Suisse declined 1.1 percent and UBS fell 0.7 percent. The banks came under pressure in late trade after German rival Deutsche Bank reported a small fourth quarter loss.
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