The Swiss stock market finished narrowly in the green on Monday. The indices attempted to recover after falling sharply at the end of last week. The SMI recorded its highest of the day at the start of the session, before heading south, falling below 11,600 at the lowest of the day. He came back at the end and finished above this level.
In New York, Wall Street moved in disorganized order in the morning after a stable opening.
The week’s agenda “is calmer, after the successive waves of macroeconomic and political news from the United States” during the first half of November, commented Jim Reid, economist at Deutsche Bank. Only a few indicators are expected, including the publication on Tuesday of the consumer price index for October in the euro zone (consolidated) and in Canada, before those of the United Kingdom and Germany on Wednesday.
In Switzerland, the secondary sector remained on the path of growth in the third quarter, after beginning a recovery in the previous quarter. Production increased by 3.3% over one year, while revenues increased by 5.5%,
On the corporate news front, we will follow various investor meetings organized this week by notably Nestlé, SGS and Zurich Insurance.
The SMI advanced 0.11% to 11,639.6 points, higher at 11,646.76 and lower at 11,574.62. The SLI gained 0.17% to 1915.35 points and the SPI 0.03% to 15,492.58 points. Of the 30 star stocks, 14 rose, 15 fell and Swisscom finished unchanged.
Today’s podium is made up of Swiss Re (+2.2%), Alcon (+1.8%) and SGS (+1.4%).
Several analysts raised the price target of the world’s number two reinsurer after the publication of its quarterly results last week, with recommendations between “hold” and “buy”.
In the heavyweight camp, Nestlé (+0.9%) supported the index. The Vevey giant meets its investors on Tuesday, a first for its new boss Laurent Freixe appointed last August in place of Mark Schneider
Pharma companies Novartis and Roche (each -0.5%) lost further ground. They had already suffered on Friday like the values of the sector, after the announcement of the probable appointment to the United States Ministry of Health of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, notoriously skeptical of vaccines.
This Monday, Roche obtained CE marking for its new ovarian cancer screening test. This test is now widely available in Europe.
Novartis has entered into an exclusive global licensing and collaboration agreement with Ratio Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company developing radiopharmaceuticals for the treatment and monitoring of cancer.
The two other pharmas Lonza (-0.9%) and Sandoz Group (-1.0%) also continued Friday’s negative momentum.
UBS (+0.7%) is seeking to obtain a national banking license in the United States. The number one Swiss bank currently has an authorization as an “Industrial Loan Company” (ILC) in the state of Utah, which is supervised at the federal level by the American deposit insurance company FDIC.
Julius Bär (-1.9%) and fini lanterne rouge, behind VAT Group (-1.2%) and ABB (-1.1%).
In the broader market, travel retailer and restaurant Avolta (+0.7%) obtained a 1,000 m2 concession at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport, north of Hong Kong. Financial details of the operation have not been disclosed.
The distribution facilitator DKSH (-0.2%) confirmed its 2024 objectives. The Zurich group presented its medium-term roadmap in London, based on the strategic priorities of growth, margin expansion and acceleration of mergers and acquisitions.
For its second day of trading, Sunrise continued its path of the cross, losing 3.1% to 40.50 francs. The number two Swiss telecoms company signed its return to the Swiss Stock Exchange on Friday, after leaving more than three years ago, closing at 41.80 francs, after an opening price of 44.75 francs and a higher of 46.97 francs registered at the start of the session. (AWP)
