Swiss Stocks Gain; Transocean, ABB Shares Lead Advance in SMI

By Alexis Xydias
source:businessweek.com

June 28 (Bloomberg) -- Stocks in Switzerland gained for the first time in five days after Group of 20 leaders pledged to work to spur economic growth as nations tackle budget deficits. Transocean Ltd. and ABB Ltd. led the advance.

Transocean, the company that leased the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico to BP Plc, rose 1.7 percent as the U.K. oil company reiterated its August timeline for plugging the well. ABB climbed 1.2 percent after Finanz und Wirtschaft reported that the world’s biggest builder of power- transmission networks is weighing further takeover targets.

The Swiss Market Index of the biggest and most actively traded companies rose 0.5 percent to 6,308.47 at 12:45 p.m. in Zurich. The broader Swiss Performance Index also gained 0.5 percent.

The SMI has declined 9.5 percent from this year’s high on April 15 on concern a sovereign-debt crisis in Europe will slow growth and speculation the Chinese authorities are moving to cool the world’s largest emerging economy. Meeting in Toronto yesterday, the G-20 meeting of the world’s largest economies reached agreement that they must still focus on spurring growth even as countries start tightening spending.