Swiss stocks - Factors to watch on Jan 5

ZURICH Jan 5 (Reuters) - Swiss shares were set to open almost flat on Tuesday, following gains overnight on Wall Street and in Tokyo that pushed the Dow and Nikkei to 15-month closing highs.

The Swiss blue-chip index SMI.SSMI was indicated to open down 4 points at 6,628 points, premarket data provided by bank Clariden Leu showed.CLPRE

The following are some of the main factors expected to affect Swiss stocks on Tuesday:

NESTLE (NESN.VX)

The world's biggest food group, Nestle, said it is buying Kraft Foods' (KFT.N) North American frozen pizza business for $3.7 billion and ruled out an offer for Cadbury CBRY.L.

For related news click on [NESN.VX]

NOVARTIS

* An independent committee of directors of Alcon ACL.N is disappointed with a takeover bid from Novartis, saying the Swiss drugmaker is trying to circumvent protections for its minority shareholders.

* France has cancelled over half the flu vaccines it ordered to combat the H1N1 flu virus, Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said on Monday. France ordered the vaccinations from companies including Novartis.

For related news click on [NOVN.VX]

CREDIT SUISSE (CSGN.VX)

Property owners in four luxury ski and golf resort are suing Credit Suisse, saying the Swiss bank concocted a loan scheme to defraud them and ultimately take over the properties.

For related news click on [CSGN.VX]

UBS (UBSN.VX) (UBS.N)

A U.S. judge on Monday upheld the prison sentence of a key informant in the tax fraud case against Swiss bank UBS AG and ordered him to start serving his 40-month term as scheduled this Friday.

For related news click on [UBSN.VX]

COMPANY STATEMENTS [CNR-CH]

* Syngenta (SYNN.VX), Dow (DOW.N) AgroSciences in cotton technology deals [SYNN.VX]

* Dufry (DUFN.S) appoints Jose Rego General Manager in the Dominican Republic [DUFN.S]

* Ypsomed (YPSN.S) exclusively launches the mylife OmniPod insulin patch pump outside of USA [YPSN.S]

ECONOMY [M-CH]

EQUITY RESEARCH [CH-RCH]

FOR COMPANIES TRADING EX-DIVIDEND, PLEASE CLICK ON:

.EX.S for all Swiss stocks

.EXSMI.S for blue chips

.EXNSMI.S for other stocks