Zurich (awp) – The Swiss stock market started the week on a positive note. Most of the speakers are already on vacation and the last session before Christmas (SIX closed Tuesday 24) took place peacefully. Only a few rare company announcements and macroeconomic data have caused some excitement. The SMI did not manage to return to the 11,500 points mark, which it came within three units of.
In New York, Wall Street moved in disorganized order in the morning lacking conviction and penalized by the high level of bond rates, on the eve of a week truncated by the Christmas holiday.
“This period generally marks a boost for the holidays,” recalls, in a note, Patrick O’Hare, of Briefing.com. “But today’s session does not fit that scenario.” “I expect a mixed session, with a possible acceleration at the end of the day,” explained Peter Cardillo. “The headwind continues to blow, with the strong dollar and bond yields, which could put pressure on rate-sensitive sectors.”
“In the absence of important economic data, this week shortened by Christmas celebrations could see a new rebound in US stocks, no one wanting to miss the Christmas rally, and a further decline in the dollar,” commented Ipek Ozkardeskaya, analyst at Swissquote Bank, in a note.
In the United Kingdom, growth remained zero in the third quarter, announced the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which revised downwards its first estimate of 0.1%.
In Switzerland, the short-term outlook for the economy is still estimated as “stable” by half of the analysts surveyed as part of the publication of the UBS-CFA indicator.
The SMI ended with a gain of 0.91% to 11,488.28 points, with a high of 11,497.71 and a low of 11,362.68. The SLI gained 0.84% to 1900.04 points and the SPI 0.83% to 15,324.67 points. Of the 30 star stocks, Geberit (-0.4%), the good Schindler and Sandoz (each -0.2%) are the only losers. Sonova finished in balance.
The biggest gainers of the day are Logitech, Holcim and Roche (each +1.5%).
Novartis (+1.1%) also finished at the top of the table, while Nestlé (+0.1%) remained much more discreet. Since the start of the year, the Vevey giant's shares have lost almost a quarter of their value.
Swisscom (+0.5%) once again benefited moderately from the green light Friday evening from the Italian authorities for the takeover of Vodafone Italia. The blue giant plans to finalize the transaction by the first quarter of 2025.
In the broader market, the Basilea laboratory (-0.5%) received $7.3 million from the Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) fund to develop the antibiotic BAL2420 and carry out first clinical studies on humans mid-2026.
Solar energy producer Edisun (+1.0%) wants its 941 MWp “Fuencarral” solar installation, based in the Madrid metropolitan area, to supply power to data centers. It thus acquired additional rights for its development from its main shareholder Smartenergy.
Composite materials manufacturer Gurit (+15.5%) expects overall restructuring and depreciation expenses of around 40 million Swiss francs. These costs will mainly be recognized in its 2024 financial results.
The mobile phone store chain Mobilezone (0.8%) will propose the election of Andreas Wyss to the board of directors at the general meeting of April 2, 2025, replacing the director Gabriela Theus who has served since 2018 in the supervisory body.
Software developer SoftwareOne (-8.1%) was downgraded to “sell” from “buy” by Research Partners which also reduced the price target to 5 of 9.50 Swiss francs. UBS, for its part, reduced the price target and confirmed “buy”. The Research Partners analyst fears that Crayon's takeover offer will have to be raised, while that of UBS believes that the operation constitutes a good deal, but comes at a bad time, the action having fallen by 56 % since the beginning of the year.
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