The Swiss stock market maintained its initial pace on Wednesday as midday approached, appearing to capitalize on its gains in recent days.
“Stock markets have regained momentum in recent days, a phenomenon likely to revive the attractiveness of stocks for players looking for quick gains,” notes Jochen Stanzl, chief analyst at CMC Markets.
At Activtrades, Pierre Veyret speaks of an “alignment of the stars”, between robust economic data, matching corporate results and the prospect of a rate cut in the United States. “Everything is coming together for a return to favor for stocks after a few weeks of uncertainty which pushed the benchmark indices into correction territory in April,” summarizes the analyst.
At 11:00 a.m., the Swiss Market Index (SMI) rose by 0.47% to 11,567.18 points, the Swiss Leader Index (SLI) by 0.49% to 1892.12 points and the Swiss Performance Index (SPI) by 0.42% to 15,436.61 points. Of the thirty main valuations, 22 were going up and eight were heading down the cellar.
The generic and biosimilar giant Sandoz (+4.1%) was getting back on track after the previous day’s losses, following a relative disappointment in terms of quarterly revenue. Last year’s release from Novartis could count on flattering comments from JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank.
The bathroom equipment manufacturer Geberit (+2.6%) benefited from a hold versus sell recommendation from CFRA, also the day after a quarterly situation update.
The pharmaceutical industry subcontractor Lonza (+1.8%) completed the top three, after seeing Jefferies raise its price target.
At the other end of the ranking, UBS (-0.9%) had left the bottom to Julius Bär (-1.3%). The bank with three keys saw Moody’s raise the assessment of its debt capacity by one notch. The New York rating agency does not, however, rule out reversing its steps, the outlook having been revised to “negative” the day after the quarterly figures. The good Lindt (-1.3%) also experienced a marked bout of weakness.
The heavyweights Nestlé and Novartis (+0.7% each) supported a trend that the good Roche (+0.1%) tended to moderate.
On the broader market, Adecco (2.9%) is now recommended for purchase by RBC, which until now provided a neutral assessment.
The energy meter manufacturer Landis+Gyr (-1.9%) appeared to be the subject of profit taking after a postponed 2023/24 financial year that was more successful than expected.
The aerospace industry subcontractor Montana Aerospace (+5.1%) returned to negative figures for the first three months of the year and confirmed its targets for the current financial year and beyond.
The financial director of the ambient air specialist Arbonia (unchanged) Daniel Wüest has decided to work for the online apothecary Docmorris (-6.2%) in the future.
The Geneva pharmaceutical group Relief Therapeutics (+4.1%) has acquired a complete management team. (AWP)
