The Swiss stock market ended on a negative note on Tuesday. At the opening, the SMI opened sharply lower, below 12,000 points, and it moved in a narrow range of around fifty points until mid-afternoon, reducing its losses towards the end, even recovering and ending slightly above this level.
In New York, Wall Street was hovering near equilibrium in the morning, the day after a new record for the Nasdaq and before the American employment statistics, Wednesday for job creations in the private sector and Friday for official statistics.
Investors were also focusing on the remarks of Jerome Powell, the head of the American Federal Reserve (Fed), who is participating with Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, in the annual ECB forum in Sintra, Portugal.
The Fed chief reiterated that while inflation had made “progress,” the monetary institution was “waiting to have more confidence” in the slowdown in price increases “before starting to ease monetary policy.”
On the macroeconomic front, inflation in the eurozone has certainly started to fall again slightly in June (2.5% over one year after 2.6% in May). But the decline seems insufficient to convince the European Central Bank (ECB) to accelerate the reduction of its interest rates in the face of sluggish growth.
“Christine Lagarde warned that the bank does not have enough evidence that it has regained control over the inflation threat, suggesting that it could skip a second rate cut in July,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya recalled for Swissquote before the report was published.
The SMI fell by 0.32% to 12,011.02 points, lower at 11,920.09 and higher at 12,015.14. The SLI dropped by 0.32% to 1,945.31 points and the SPI by 0.21% to 15,955.51 points. Of the 30 leading stocks, 15 fell, 13 advanced and UBS and the carrier Roche ended stable.
The three-key bank will repay early a €1.5 billion loan issued by Credit Suisse, which had an initial maturity until 2025. The debt security will be honored on the optional date of July 17.
The good Roche (-0.6%) weighed, Novartis (-0.3%) resisted a little better and Nestlé (+0.7%) supported the index.
Partners Group (+2.0%), SIG Group (+1.3%) and Straumann (+1.2%) finished on the podium of the day.
Kühne+Nagel (+1.0% to 264 francs) benefited from an upgrade of its recommendation to “equal weight” from “underweight” by Barclays, which also significantly increased the price target to 255 from 210 francs. The analyst believes that the group should benefit from the disruptions in the Red Sea due to its strong pricing power in contract negotiations with shipping companies.
Geneva-based luxury giant Richemont (+0.4%) has announced the appointment of a new CEO and a new director, taking over the reins of its luxury jewelry brands Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels respectively from 1is September. This announcement follows the appointment last May of a new head of the group, Nicolas Bos.
Its Biel-based competitor Swatch Group (+0.3%) also gained ground.
Reinsurer Swiss Re (-4.0%) finished last, while a major hurricane is lurking in the Caribbean Sea. Logitech (-2.5%) and Holcim (-1.8%) complete the trio of biggest losers.
Other insurers Zurich (-1.2%) and Swiss Life (-1.3%) did not escape the trend.
In the broader market, hospital communications solutions specialist Ascom (+1.6%) has entered into a partnership south of the Alps for the deployment of its Digistat platform.
DKSH (+0.3%) has signed an agreement with American hygiene products giant Kimberly-Clark to distribute its Huggies diaper and wipes brand in Cambodia.
Liechtensteinische Landesbank (-0.3%) acquired the Austrian business of Zurich Cantonal Bank (ZKB, unlisted) for an undisclosed amount.
Real estate developer and hotel operator Orascom DH (+6.3%) has announced the sale of land in El Gouna, in eastern Egypt, for 28.8 million francs, almost 16 times its current book value.
Geneva-based banking software publisher Temenos (+0.2%) has signed an agreement with Indian Tech Mahindra. This digital solutions specialist will provide it with a banking platform designed for electronic money institutions (EMIs) in the United Kingdom and Europe. (AWP)
