Swiss Stocks Are Little Changed Near 4 1/2-Year High

Stocks in Switzerland were little changed near a 4 1/2-year high as China’s economic growth accelerated for the first time in two years.

Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN), Switzerland’s second-biggest bank, advanced 0.6 percent. Transocean Ltd., the world’s largest offshore-rig contractor, added 0.8 percent. Von Roll Holding AG (ROL) slid 6.4 percent after forecasting a “significant loss.”

The Swiss Market Index (SMI) fell 0.2 percent to 7,413.54 at 10:34 a.m. in Zurich. The benchmark gauge has still rallied 8.6 percent in 2013. The broader Swiss Performance Index also declined 0.2 percent today.

The volume of shares changing hands in SMI-listed companies was three times higher than the average of the last 30 days, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.

China’s gross domestic product advanced 7.9 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said in Beijing. That compared with the median economist estimate of 7.8 percent in a Bloomberg News survey and growth of 7.4 percent in the third quarter.

In the U.S., the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer confidence climbed to 75 this month from 72.9 in December, economists forecast before the report due at 9:55 a.m. New York time.

To contact the reporter on this story: Corinne Gretler in Zurich at cgretler1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net