WEEKLY UPDATE - Government debt levels a "near-term problem" analysts believe as investors gets more concerned.

Stocks in Sweden fell at the start of trading on Friday as investors acted in response to news of an extraordinary EU deal to embark upon Greece's debt mountain and a disappointing bond auction by the US Treasury the previous day.

“One of the big things affecting the psychology of the market is concern about global government debt levels,” Michael Shinnick, money manager at Wasatch Advisors, told Bloomberg. “To the extent there are signs that the debt problem is not going to be a later problem but a near-term problem, the market gets concerned.”

The OMX Stockholm index was down 0.70 percent at 10am. Compared to last week the index was up 0.77 percent.

Ericsson was among the weakest performers Friday as Deutsche Bank downgrades the stock to sell.

Swedbank rose Friday as its CEO Michael Wolf told Reuters that the bank's credit losses will improve and that it will show profit this year, adding that Sweden is surprisingly strong.

Truck makers Volvo and Scania fell Friday after European new heavy truck registrations fell 31.4 percent year-on-year last month, according to ACEA. Volvo gained 0.50 percent Wednesday after it said that total deliveries from its truck operations in February rose 11 percent to 11,955 vehicles.

Diamyd Medical rallied 4.5 percent Wednesday after its diabetes vaccine got orphan status in the US.

Hennes & Mauritz toumbled Tuesday on fears about a Swedish retail sector strike next week. The strike, which will begin 1 April, will affect more than 5,000 workers in 79 shops and warehouses, also including Kappahl, Ikea and Ica.

A number of international investment banks have upgraded its recommendations on Swedish Autoliv as the automotive safety device maker on Monday raised its first-quarter forecasts. The company's shares rose 6.2 percent on Monday and continued to climb on Tuesday.

Since the turn of the year the OMX Stockholm 30 index is up 7.94 percent.

This article has been published at The Swedish Wire and Nasdaq OMX Nordic.