Swiss Stocks Gain; Swiss Life, Syngenta Shares Advance

By Daniela Silberstein

Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Swiss stocks rose, with the benchmark Swiss Market Index heading for a second straight weekly gain, as analysts recommended shares of insurers and chemical companies.

Swiss Life Holding AG climbed 6.1 percent after Citigroup Inc. recommended buying shares of Switzerland’s biggest life insurer. Syngenta AG, the world’s largest maker of agricultural chemicals, advanced 1.6 percent after UBS AG upgraded Norwegian rival Yara International ASA. Givaudan SA gained 2.5 percent as Morgan Stanley recommended the shares.

The SMI, a gauge of the country’s biggest and most actively traded companies, rose 44.65, or 0.7 percent, to 6,427.84 at 9:35 a.m. in Zurich. The broader Swiss Performance Index added 0.7 percent to 5,548.8.

The SMI has gained 2.2 percent this week, reaching its highest level since October 2008, as companies from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Intel Corp. reported earnings that exceeded analysts’ estimates.

Swiss Life surged 6.1 percent to 142.4 Swiss francs. Switzerland’s largest life insurer was upgraded to “buy” from “hold” at Citigroup, which also increased its share-price estimate to 160 francs from 120.

“By improving its capital position, this increases the chance of the group being able to re-risk and lift asset yields, to which its earnings are highly leveraged,” London-based insurance analyst William Elderkin wrote in a report.

Syngenta

Syngenta increased 1.6 percent to 255.25 francs. Yara was raised to “buy” from “neutral” at UBS, which wrote in a report that “agriculture should increasingly be viewed as a late cyclical opportunity by the market.”

Givaudan SA advanced 2.5 percent to 795 francs. The world’s biggest maker of fragrances and flavors was raised to “overweight” from “equal-weight” at Morgan Stanley.

Barry Callebaut AG declined 1.6 percent to 603.5 francs. The world’s biggest maker of bulk chocolate was downgraded to “underweight” from “neutral” at JPMorgan.

Cytos Biotechnology Ltd. tumbled 40 percent to 13.75 francs. The developer of vaccines said the NIC002 nicotine vaccine didn’t achieve the primary endpoint in an interim analysis of a Phase II study. Helvea SA slashed its share-price projection to 1 franc from 9.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniela Silberstein in Zurich at dsilberstei2@bloomberg.net.