Swiss shares higher in afternoon trade ahead of stronger Wall Street opening

Swiss shares higher in afternoon trade ahead of stronger Wall Street opening

	Published : Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:08 By : Agencies Print this Story

ZURICH (Thomson Financial) - Swiss shares were higher in afternoon trade, rebounding in line with other European markets that were reassured by the ECB's fresh injection of a further 47.7 bln eur and ahead of a stronger Wall Street opening expected later today.

At 1.40 pm, the Swiss Market Index was 81.96 points higher at 8,647.48 and the Swiss Performance Index 64.75 points up at 7,064.99.

The euro fell to 1.6375 sfr while the dollar rose to 1.1993 sfr.

A Julius Baer trader said the market is currently rebounding from sharp falls ahead of the weekend, supported by the ECB's decision to plough fresh liquuidity into monetary markets to avoid a potential credit crunch.

The recovery was also supported by the Swiss National Bank, which injected a total of 3.1 bln sfr into the Swiss markets last week.

Nestle topped the market's gainers, rising 2.7 pct, or 12 sfr to 455.50 amid market rumours that it is a prime candidate to buy Godiva Chocolatier, currently owned by Campbell Soup.

Late last week, the US food and beverage group said it was thinking of divesting the luxury chocolate brand.

In other news, Nestle announced that its Alcon unit had hiked a takeover offer for Germany WaveLight to 15 eur per share, from 10 eur per share.

Engineering group ABB was another strong gainer, rising 2.4 pct or 0.65 sfr to 27.35, while Adecco rose 1.3 pct, or 1.05 sfr to 80.55, boosted by Bank Helvea's upgrade on Adecco to 'buy' from 'accumulate'.

The banking sector bounced back to regain some ground lost on Friday, with Credit Suisse up 2.2 pct, or 1.75 sfr at 82.60, and Julius Baer climbing 1 pct or 0.75 sfr to 75.75.

UBS rose 0.55 sfr to 65.95 ahead of its second-quarter results tomorrow, which are expected to be solid. Most analysts do not anticipate any negative surprises regarding the bank's exposure to the US sub-prime market.

In other financials, Swiss Re was 1.7 pct or 1.70 sfr higher at 101.60, and Zurich Financial was 1.1 pct or 3.75 sfr higher at 336.50.

Earlier, Zurich Financial declined to comment on a report in a UK newspaper claiming the Swiss insurer is planning to offload all or part of its UK life insurance business.

Swiss Life was 1.1 pct or 3.00 sfr higher at 275.50.

Pharmaceutical stocks were mixed, with Novartis dropping 0.35 sfr to 64.60 after Australia banned its Prexige painkiller on Friday, throwing doubt on whether the US Food and Drug Administration will approve the drug.

The ban followed two fatalities linked with liver problems believed to have been caused by Prexige, according to Australian health authorities.

Roche rose 1.50 sfr to 208.90. Earlier, Roche said it had sold three of its pharmaceutical products to Iceland-based generics company Actavis Group for an undisclosed sum.

Outside the SMI, Petroplus was 2.6 pct or 2.70 sfr higher at 235.90, boosted by an upgrade to 'outperform' by Credit Suisse.

Oerlikon was also 7.2 pct or 26.75 sfr higher at 390.75, recovering some value after losing almost 50 pct of its share value in the last four weeks.

Over the weekend, Oerlikon's chief executive confirmed the group's 2007 targets and said in an interview with a Swiss weekly newspaper the business was performing well.

sarah.fenwick@thomson.com

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