Swiss shares remain flat in afternoon trade amid early Wall Street losses |
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Fri, 12 Jan 2007 15:58
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ZURICH (AFX) - Share prices remained flat in thin afternoon trade reflecting opening losses on Wall Street, with positive retail data offset by a profit warning from chip maker AMD, dealers said.At 3.30 pm, the Swiss Market Index was 11.78 points higher at 8,999.69, and the Swiss Performance Index up 10.04 points at 7,101.38.The euro rose against the Swiss franc to 1.6131 sfr, and the dollar strengthened to 1.2502 sfr.The bluechip SMI index is still more or less unchanged, reflecting the currently thin newsflow ahead of the earnings season and Wall Street's slow start, a trader here said.Nevertheless, the SMI managed to reach a new all-time high of 9,021.28 points earlier this morning, thereby surpassing the 9,000 points level for the first time.Syngenta led the index, last up 4.30 sfr or 1.9 pct at 232.40, after JP Morgan hiked its price target to 250 sfr from 220 sfr and reiterated its 'overweight' rating.ABB gained 0.30 sfr to 21.85, extending yesterday's gains after chief executive Fred Kindle said the engineering group could return to large scale acquisitions above 1 bln eur this year.Among banks, UBS added 0.05 sfr to 76, and Credit Suisse gained 0.20 to 84.85 sfr.Elsewhere among financials, Swiss Re firmed 1.3 pct or 1.40 sfr to 105.90.In the pharmaceuticals sector, Roche eased 0.30 sfr to 230.60 on profit taking, and Novartis declined 0.25 sfr to 72.20.SGS was up 1 sfr at 1,400, on nervousness ahead of its full year results on Monday, which are, however, likely to be strong.The market's biggest losers included Nobel Biocare, down 1.9 pct or 7.50 sfr at 387.50, and Ciba for a second straight day, off 0.40 at 84.30 sfr.afx.zurich@afxnews.comat/harCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2006. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited
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Swiss shares extend losses in afternoon trade tracking US futures 