2023-07-06 16:16:03
Zurich (awp) – The Swiss stock market fell sharply on Thursday, in the wake of the main world markets. In the second half of the followingnoon, the SMI rose once more and ended below 11,000 points, close to its lowest point for the day. The corporate news front paused, awaiting the first half-year results.
In New York, Wall Street gave ground in the morning following the announcement of strong private sector hiring, likely to strengthen the American Federal Reserve (Fed) in its strict monetary policy, while the official American employment figures for June are expected on Friday.
At 497,000, job creations are twice as numerous as expected. Wage growth has slowed but still stands at 6.4% over one year, which is seen by the Fed as a factor of inflation. Investors fear a monetary tightening to calm this overheating of hiring which can feed inflation.
Driving the point home, a Fed official, Lorie Logan, came out in favor of rate hikes. Given the economic environment “the Monetary Committee must pursue a more restrictive policy in order to bring inflation back to target in a sustainable and timely manner”, said the one who favored a hike in June when the Fed finally had decided to take a break.
The SMI ended down 1.85% at 10,986.78 points, with a low of 10,967.57 and a high of 11,121.92 points at the start of the session. The SLI fell 1.99% to 1715.26 points and the SPI 1.76% to 14,482.25 points. The 30 star stocks finished in the red.
Lonza (-0.5%), Nestlé (-0.8%) and Swisscom (-0.9%) held up best.
The two pharma heavyweights Roche (-2.2%) and Novartis (-1.5%) did not escape the trend.
The volatile AMS Osram (-5.6%) finished at the bottom, behind Holcim (-3.9%) and Partners Group (-3.7%).
Construction chemist Sika (-3.1%) bought for an undisclosed amount American family business Thiessen Team USA, a manufacturer of concrete and mortar for the mining sector.
HSBC and Berenberg both lowered their price target for Sika. HSBC did the same for Holcim.
For Geberit (-3.1%), HSBC lowered its recommendation to “reduce”, following “hold”, and trimmed the price target. Analysts at the UK establishment anticipate a slowdown in the global construction sector this year and next. Societe Generale reduced the target and confirmed “sell” due in particular to signs of pressure on margins in the 2nd quarter.
UBS (-3.6%) also fell sharply. The bank has repaid a loan of 1.3 billion dollars and will enter into a strategic partnership with the fintech Numarics. The banking giant has also taken an unspecified stake in the start-up, via its venture capital segment UBS Next.
In the Credit Suisse file, the threshold necessary to ensure the financing of the collective legal action in favor of the shareholders of the bank with the two veils has been reached, according to the company Legalpass, at the origin of this approach.
On the broader market, Docmorris (+5.8%) is one of the few winners of the day. According to brokers, the stock was buoyed by the strong financial performance of competitor Redcare Pharmacy in the second quarter.
Emmi (-0.1%) sold the German Gläserne Molkerei, which specializes in regional organic products, to the holding company Mutares. The transaction will result this year for Lucerne in a loss of around 38 million Swiss francs in operating profit (Ebit) and 30 million in net profit.
Pierer Mobility (-0.5%) strengthened its cooperation with the Chinese CFMoto, the latter expanding its stake from 1.37% to 2.0% in the Austrian manufacturer of motorized two-wheelers.
The former head of Migros Fabrice Zumbrunnen has been appointed administrator for the group of private clinics and hospitals Swiss Medical Network (SMN) owned by the holding company Aevis Victoria (-1.9%), replacing Christian Le Dorze.
Stadler Rail (-4.1%) recorded a new major order from the Austrian railways, the ÖBB. The group from Thurgau is to deliver 35 Kiss-type double-decker self-propelled trainsets, for a volume of some 600 million euros (579.5 million Swiss francs).
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