BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Swiss stock market ended the first day of the new trading week with a modest gain. The market climbed during the first few hours of the morning, before settling into a sideways pattern.
The Swiss Market Index increased by 0.49 percent Monday and finished at 8,886.26. The Swiss Leader Index climbed 0.36 percent and the Swiss Performance Index added 0.37 percent.
The strong performance by index heavyweight Roche provided support to the overall market Monday. Shares of the pharma giant advanced 1 percent following comments made by company Chairman Christopher Franz in a newspaper interview. He believes any lost sales for its three main products, due to loss of patent protection, will be made up for by new drugs.
Novartis and Nestle also gained 0.4 percent each.
Swatch was one of the top performing stocks of the session, with an increase of 1.4 percent. Rival Richemont added 0.7 percent.
ABB rose 0.9 percent and Swisscom climbed 0.8 percent. Lafargeholcim finished higher by 0.7 percent and Adecco added 0.6 percent.
UBS gained 1 percent and Julius Baer advanced 0.7 percent. Meanwhile, Credit Suisse fell 0.2 percent.
Sika was among the weakest performing stocks of the session, dropping 1.2 percent.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX