The Swiss Stock Exchange opened close to equilibrium on Wednesday, in the wake of closing at new highs on Wall Street for two of the main American indices, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500. The impulses will be limited, to the extent that American markets remain closed due to a public holiday and investors await the monetary policy decision of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) on Thursday.
In terms of macroeconomic news, Japan’s exports jumped 13.5% year-on-year in May, their strongest growth in a year and a half due to the weakness of the yen, a factor which also makes imports of the archipelago.
In Great Britain, inflation slowed to 2% year-on-year in May for the first time in almost three years, returning to the Bank of England’s target, good news for the Conservative government campaigning for legislative. In April, the price increase reached 2.3%. It had accelerated to 11% at the end of 2022, generating a serious purchasing power crisis in the United Kingdom.
Investors will also be interested in inflation in May in South Africa.
At 9:12 a.m., the SMI fell by 0.01% and the SPI dropped 0.03%. For its part, the SLI took 0.02%. Of the thirty star stocks, around fifteen progressed, a dozen declined and three (Geberit, Givaudan and the Roche enjoyment bond) were standing still.
UBS took 0.2%. The Federal Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma) has closed its cartel control procedure in connection with the merger between UBS and Credit Suisse. It concludes that the merger in no way threatens competition in any market segment.
Zurich Insurance (+0.3%) announced that it had taken control of the Indian insurer Kotak General Insurance. The Zurich insurer thus concretizes the agreement to this effect agreed last November. The Zurich multinational paid 5,560 crores or 670 million dollars, or approximately 592 million francs, to seize 70% of the capital of Kotak.
Julius Baer (+0.8%), Swiss Life and Partners Group (each +0.7%) took the lead in the provisional ranking.
The three heavyweights Nestlé (-0.3%), Roche (bearer: -0.2%, dividend: stable) and Novartis (-0.3%) weighed.
Logitech (+0.2%) advanced slightly, after a positive comment from Stifel, which set the new price target at 84 francs, after 72 francs.
At the bottom of the pack, we found SGS (-1.1%), Richemont (-0.4%) and Schindler (-0.3%). (AWP)
