Swiss Stock Market Ends Slightly Positive, UBS and Alcon Stocks Decline – Latest News and Market Analysis

2023-12-05 17:16:09

Zurich (awp) – The Swiss stock market ended on a slightly positive note on Tuesday. The SMI oscillated around equilibrium throughout the day, approaching to a little more than twenty points from the symbolic bar of 11,000 units at its highest of the day and to a little more than fifteen points of 10,900 at its lowest.

In New York, Wall Street moved in disorganized order in the morning. Investors were wondering whether to extend the previous day’s pause following the excellent month of November and before new US economic data.

“There is a sense of heaviness in the air, with market participants wondering whether stocks can continue to rise as they have been,” said Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com.

For Will Compernolle of FHN Financial, we will have to wait for the official data on employment in November which are published on Friday to know if the gloomy trend at the start of the week will continue.

Furthermore, “the announcement that Moody’s lowered China’s credit outlook from stable to negative also tempered some of the buyers’ interest this morning,” admitted Patrick O’Hare.

In Switzerland, the hotel industry recorded 23.9 million overnight stays from May to October, the highest level ever observed, according to the OFS. Foreign tourists have supported demand, even if the number of Chinese visiting Switzerland is still significantly lower than before the pandemic.

The SMI ended up 0.11% at 10,964.81 points, with a high of 10,979.14 and a low of 10,915.76. The SLI gained 0.23% to 17 points and the SPI 0.19% to 14,336.78 points. Of the 30 star stocks, 17 rose, 12 fell and only one remained stationary.

UBS (-1.8%), Alcon (-1.6%) and Straumann (-1.5%) are the three biggest losers of the day.

The shares of the bank with three keys have gained more than 40% since the beginning of January, which has put it at the top of the SMI rankings. Last Friday, the title even had a foray beyond 25 Swiss francs, a first since the financial crisis. At this level, it is therefore not surprising that some investors choose to take their profits.

Furthermore, Bank of America reduced its recommendation for UBS to “neutral” from “buy”, with the price target reduced to 28 from 30 Swiss francs.

JPMorgan downgraded Straumann to neutral from overweight and confirmed the price target of 139 Swiss francs. If optimistic observers focus on the market share gains announced for 2024 and the strong growth expected in China, pessimists focus on the slow progression of margins, analysts noted.

In the heavyweight camp, Novartis (-1.3%) and Nestlé (-0.4%) weighed on the index, while the Roche bonus (+1.9%) and the porter (+ 2.3%) finished at the top of the table, led by Julius Bär (+3.4%) and the volatile Sandoz (+3.0%).

Roche announced positive results from clinical studies with the drug in development inavolisib in combination with palbociclib and fulvestrant once morest a specific form of breast cancer. The research, involving 325 patients, demonstrated that this treatment achieved its primary objective of survival without progression of the disease and a better response than the treatments palbociclib from Pfizer and fulvestrant (now in the public domain) administered alone.

Research Partners lowered Logitech’s recommendation (+0.5%) to “hold” from “buy” and increased the price target to 80 from 76 Swiss francs. The analyst raised his earnings per share (EPS) and non-GAAP forecasts by 4.3% and 5.1%, respectively. Its revenue assumption for 2023/24 is now $4.5 billion.

On the broader market, the energy group BKW (+0.5%) presented six Alpine solar projects in the canton of Bern. The planned installations should produce nearly 100 gigawatt hours of renewable electricity per year and supply more than 20,000 four-person households.

The access security specialist Dormakaba (-2.3%) will have a new general director (CEO) from January 1. Till Reuter will succeed Jim-Heng Lee, who will leave the company in which he worked for around ten years, including less than two at its head.

The pharmaceutical group Relief Therapeutics (+1.6%) plans to outsource the majority of its commercial operations to external partners in order to concentrate on the research and development of its products.

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