Swiss shares higher in afternoon trade tracking Wall Street futures

Swiss shares higher in afternoon trade tracking Wall Street futures

	Published : Thu, 31 May 2007 14:11 By : Agencies Print this Story

ZURICH (Thomson Financial) - Share prices continued to rise in afternoon trade in expectation of a higher Wall Street opening, with Julius Baer the biggest gainer here on fresh takeover speculation, traders said.

At 14.25 pm, the Swiss Market Index was up 77.50 points at 9,460.32, and the Swiss Performance Index up 60.34 points at 7,688.43.

The euro rose to 1.6479 sfr, while the dollar fell to 1.2248 sfr.

'The SMI extended earlier gains as Wall Street seems set for further gains in opening deals,' a local trader said.

This afternoon's major gainers included Julius Baer, last trading 3.3 pct or 3.05 sfr higher at 93.05 on fresh takeover speculation after UBS confirmed last week it is to sell its stake in the bank, a Synthesis Bank trader said.

Other major gainers included Credit Suisse, which rose 1.9 pct or 1.70 sfr to 93.20, and chemicals group Syngenta, last up 2 pct or 4.50 sfr at 229.80.

Shares in Swedish-Swiss engineering firm ABB were also up 1.7 pct or 0.40 sfr at 26.10. The company earlier said it had won an order worth 27 mln usd from Swedish mining company Boliden.

Major decliners included pharmaceuticals heavyweight Novartis, last down 0.15 sfr at 68.75 after the Swiss medical watchdog ordered it to pull irritable bowel syndrome drug Zelnorm from the market, after the US Food and Drug Administration ordered a withdrawal earlier this year.

Peer Roche increased by 0.80 sfr to 226.40.

In other sectors, insurance stocks were up across the board, led by Baloise which rose 1.10 sfr to 127.40, following news that it will buy Croatian insurance group Osiguranje Zagreb for an undisclosed sum, making it the largest insurer in Croatia.

Zurich Financial was also higher, trading 3.25 sfr higher at 376, while Swiss Life Holding gained 2.50 sfr at 329.50 and Swiss Re climbed 1.40 sfr at 115.50.

Heavyweight Nestle was higher by 2.75 sfr at 477.75.

Outside the SMI, shares in Vontobel were sharply higher, up 2.80 sfr or 3.8 pct at 76.30 on fresh takeover speculation, linking the country's two biggest banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, with a potential bid for the private bank, dealers said.

Feintool dropped 7.25 sfr or 1.6 pct to 454.25 as the Swiss engineering group's first half results came in short of expectations, dealers said.

The company reported a first-half net profit of 6.8 mln sfr, down from 7.4 mln sfr in the year-earlier period, mainly due to non-recurring income last year.

sarah.fenwick@thomson.com

sf/slm/sf/dca

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