Zurich (awp) – After an opening on the rise followed by a brief period in the red, the Swiss stock market recovered on Friday as midday approached. While the flow of information remains modest, investors, still hesitant, are focusing all their attention on the publication in the afternoon of the American PCE inflation indicator, before the first round of very uncertain legislative elections in France.
On Thursday evening, the main American indices once again closed very slightly higher, before the publication of inflation figures (PCE) in the United States and the “famous” American presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, observes John Plassard, of Mirabaud Banque. Described as a “repeat criminal” by the current president, Donald Trump confidently made false statements, with Joe Biden being offensive in substance but very confused in form. The two candidates for the American presidential election fought over inflation, immigration and Ukraine.
Referring to the elections in France, following the dissolution of the National Assembly by President Emmanuel Macron, after the gains of the far-right in the European elections, Mr. Plassard speaks of a weekend where “anything” can happen. Also in France, the consumer price index increased by 2.1% over one year in June, down slightly after 2.3% in May.
Inflation is thus resuming its slow decline after a slight increase in May, when it had increased by 0.1 points compared to April (2.2% over one year). In June 2023, it still reached 4.5%. The decline observed in June is explained both by a “slowdown” in the rise in energy and food prices, and a change at the same rate as in May in the prices of tobacco, manufactured products and services.
After starting the session with a rise of 0.25%, the Swiss Market Index (SMI) gradually gave up its gains to sink into the red and fall below the 12,000 point mark, before recovering and never leaving the green zone. Shortly before 10:55, the flagship index was at 12,032.25 points, an increase of 0.22%. The Swiss Leader Index (SLI) gained just 0.09% to 1,949.36 points, while the broader indicator Swiss Performance Index gained 0.18% to 15,971.38 points.
Among the thirty stocks making up the SLI, eleven lost ground and eighteen gained, while the heavyweight Nestlé was marking time. As for the other two largest capitalizations on the market, the registered Novartis appreciated by 0.6%, and the Roche bond by 0.2% (-0.2% for bearer shares).
At the bottom of the table, Swatch Group (-1.9%) had taken over from Straumann (-1.6%), both suffering the repercussions of price target revisions. UBS thus lowered that of the Basel manufacturer of dental implants to 120 Swiss francs, compared to 148 Swiss francs previously, while maintaining the recommendation at “neutral”. HSBC reduced that of the world number one watchmaker to 210 Swiss francs, compared to 250 Swiss francs previously. However, the recommendation is maintained at “hold”.
A competitor of the Bienne watchmaker in the luxury sector, Richemont was also struggling, dropping 0.9%.
On the winners’ side, Partners Group (+.4%) took the top step of the provisional podium, narrowly ahead of UBS (+1.4%). Logitech (+1.2%) came in 3rd position, ahead of Lonza (+0.8%) and Kühne + Nagel (+0.85).
On the broader market side, Starragtornos fell by 6.5%. The St-Gallo-Prévôtois manufacturer of machine tools warned that its first half of 2024 will not have been up to the same period a year earlier, on a pro forma basis.
Implenia (+0.9%) has won the tender for the construction of the Sisikon road tunnel in central Switzerland. The order volume for the Swiss number one in construction exceeds 250 million Swiss francs.
Heating and air conditioning installer Meier Tobler (-0.6%) is selling its company Meier Tobler Air Hygiene to Hälg Group. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed.
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