Cautious in the first exchanges, the Swiss Stock Exchange gradually gained confidence as the morning progressed, in the wake of an update on inflation in December largely in line with projections. Over the entire past financial year, inflation evaporated by almost half year-on-year to stand at 1.1%.
“For 2025, the Swiss National Bank anticipates inflation at 0.3%, like SECO, while the KOF anticipates 0.5%,” recalls Arthur Jurus, for Oddo BHF. The expert from the Franco-German-Swiss establishment for his part expects 0.4% and therefore considers these projections “realistic”.
France reported unchanged inflation between November and December, at 1.3% year-on-year. The statements for Italy and especially for the euro zone as a whole are still to be published.
Recognizing already high valuations following the price gains of the last two years, the head of investment in wealth management at UBS wants to believe in a continuation of the rise in early 2025. “Even if we do not anticipate progression of more than 20% as in 2023 or 2024, solid fundamentals suggest a continuation of the rally,” assures Mark Haefele in a commentary.
At 10:57 a.m., the Swiss Market Index (SMI) appreciated by 0.45% to 11,743.54 points, the Swiss Leader Index (SLI) by 0.51% to 1946.68 points and the Swiss Performance Index (SPI) by 0.39% to 15,677.68 points. Of the thirty main valuations, 18 advanced, ten declined and both Sandoz and Givaudan paused.
If the pharmaceutical heavyweight Novartis lost another 0.1%, its friend Roche gained 0.4% and the food liner Nestlé gained 0.9%.
The asset manager Partners Group (+5.3%) extended its solo escape, boosted by a purchase recommendation made by UBS. The mouse giant Logitech (+2.6%) and the vacuum pump equipment manufacturer VAT Group (+1.5%) were visibly benefiting from the downturn in the chip segment.
The construction chemist Sika (-0.8%), suffered from an adjustment to “underweight” against “overweight” of its recommendation by Barclays, but left the red lantern to the good Schindler (-1.3%), without special indication.
Wealth manager Julius Baer rebounded by 1.1%, following the sale of its activities in Brazil in an effort to optimize its capital ratio.
The designer of bone substitutes Kuros (+21%) stood out in the broader market, which has partnered with the services of Medtronic to distribute its MagnetOs on the essential American market, among others. (AWP)
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