ZURICH, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Swiss shares trimmed losses in afternoon trade Wednesday with some banking stocks moving into positive territory after major central banks took concerted action to cut interest rates.

At 1:48 pm (1148 GMT), the overall Swiss market was down 1.87 percent, showing an improvement from opening losses of 3.45 percent.

Banks reacted particularly positively to the news of the rate cuts, with UBS gaining 2.99 percent to 19.98 Swiss francs and Julius Baer jumping 8.81 percent to 46.68 francs.

Credit Suisse which had been down 12 percent in morning trade, also trimmed its losses to 3.98 percent at 48.20 francs.