2023-12-14 10:31:04
Zurich (awp) – The Swiss Stock Exchange slowed down somewhat late Thursday morning, after accelerating to above 11,300 points shortly after the opening. The Swiss National Bank did not defy the forecasts, maintaining its key rate at 1.75% as expected.
If the guardian of the franc judges a premature relaxation of its monetary policy, it is counting on a slight decline in inflation. It therefore expects annual inflation of 1.9% in 2024, within its target range, compared to 2.2% so far.
The day before, the American Federal Reserve left its rates unchanged, and “relaunched the bullish appetite of investors”, driving stocks higher on European markets, underlined Pierre Veyret, of ActivTrades. “The FOMC meeting delivered what stock and Treasury traders were hoping for last night after Fed Chairman Powell confirmed that next monetary actions would be aimed at reducing borrowing rates, signaling the start of the easing cycle.”
The European Central Bank will follow in the footsteps of the SNB early this afternoon.
Around 11:05 a.m., the SMI index gained 0.74% to 11,272.45 points, the SLI 1.37% to 1797.11 points when the SPI advanced 1% to 14,731.51 points. Of the thirty main stocks, 23 rose and seven fell.
Straumann retained the lead with a gain of 9%, ahead of Sika (+6.3%) and Julius Bär (+3.8%). Barclays maintained its recommendation at “overweight” for the first mentioned.
UBS advanced 3.1%. Its subsidiary Credit Suisse will pay $10 million following an agreement reached with the financial markets watchdog in the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Swatch resisted (+2.3%), even if Julius Bär slashed its price target to 250 Swiss francs against 305 Swiss francs previously, pointing to the slowdown in demand for its watches. Richemont took 2.9%.
Logitech gained 1.3%. Goldman Sachs raised the computer accessories maker’s price target to 87 Swiss francs, up from 78 Swiss francs previously, expecting strong demand for its products in the coming quarters. The recommendation is maintained at “buy”.
Schindler (+1.2%) announced that directors Erich Ammann and Adam Keswick would give up seeking a new mandate at the next general meeting scheduled for March 19.
Nestlé was the only heavyweight to keep its head above water (+0.2%) when Novartis lost 0.3% and Roche 0.4%.
Swisscom (-0.2%) suffered an outage on its mobile network.
Zurich (-1%) and Swiss Re (-2.8%) were at the bottom of the table. The first recorded the resignation of its financial director (CFO) George Quinn, in office for ten years. He will be replaced on March 1 by Claudia Cordioli, recruited by the reinsurer.
In the broader market, Galenica lost 1%. The medicine wholesaler and the logistician Planzer have created a joint venture in medicine delivery, called Health Supply.
The asset manager GAM (+5.4%) announced a share buyback for a maximum of 3 million shares, at 0.425 francs per registered share.
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