• Home
• /
• Business

UBS stock soars on job-cut talks, Goldman Sachs gains

ZURICH - Shares in Switzerland’s biggest bank UBS soared on Tuesday, lifted by strong results at Goldman Sachs and talk that the bank would slash thousands of jobs.

UBS shares were showing a gain of 10.35 percent to 12.69 Swiss francs, bucking the trend of the Swiss Market Index which was down 0.23 percent.

“The rumours of job cuts have been positively greeted by shareholders and the very strong results at Goldman Sachs should also lend support to the stock,” a Zurich-based trader said.

US banking giant Goldman Sachs reported on Monday a quarterly net profit which far exceeded market expectations and announced a massive five-billion-dollar share issue to help repay government aid.

In a surprise announcement, Goldman Sachs reported first-quarter net profit of 1.81 billion dollars (1.36 billion euros) with earnings per share of 3.39 dollars, sharply higher than 1.33 dollars per share forecast by most analysts.

Meanwhile, Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported on Sunday that the bank could cut up to 10,000 jobs in the worst-case scenario, including those in marketing and support.

Earlier on Tuesday, the bank said it would cut 240 jobs from its wealth management division in the Asia-Pacific region as part of a cost reduction exercise.

UBS is scheduled to hold its annual general meeting on Wednesday.