Brightbridge Wealth Management Headlines: Swiss Stocks Rise as EU Finance Ministers Meet on Crisis

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) — Swiss stocks closed higher as euro- area finance ministers met to discuss insuring a portion of bonds issued by debt-stricken countries and an Italian bond auction was oversubscribed by investors.

UBS AG and Zurich Financial Services AG, the largest Swiss bank and insurer respectively, each rose at least 1.3 percent. Transocean Ltd., the biggest provider of offshore drilling rigs, dropped 8.7 percent after selling shares.

The Swiss Market Index, a measure of the largest and most actively traded companies, edged up 0.2 percent to 5,531.24 at the 5:30 p.m. close in Zurich, shifting between gains and losses all day. The gauge has rebounded 15 percent from this year’s low on Aug. 10 amid speculation that policy makers will act to resolve the 17-member euro region’s debt crisis. The Swiss Performance Index advanced less than 0.2 percent today.

“The bad news is that Italian rates are still very high,” said Henrik Henriksen, chief investment strategist at PFA Pension A/S, which manages $45 billion in Copenhagen. “The good news is that someone actually wants to buy Italian bonds,”

Italy was again forced to pay above the 7 percent threshold that led Greece, Portugal and Ireland to seek bailouts when it sold 7.5 billion euros ($10 billion) in bonds today, short of the maximum target for the auction.

Demand for a 2014 bond was 1.5 times the amount sold, while the bid-to-cover ratio for a 2022 bond was 1.34 times. That compared respectively with 1.35 times and 1.27 times at the previous auction on Oct. 28 auction. » Brightbridge Wealth Management Headlines: Swiss Stocks Rise as EU Finance Ministers Meet on Crisis