Zurich (awp) – The Swiss stock market continued its positive trend on Monday morning, regaining strength after ending the previous week without direction. Investors focused on some announcements of companies in Switzerland, with Temenos and Sika, as Wall Street will remain closed due to a holiday in the United States.
In Europe, the news front was sparse, with only December wholesale prices in Germany to assess for capital holders. The rest of the week will be more eventful, with growth in China in particular in the 4th quarter on Tuesday and the release of European Central Bank (ECB) minutes and a speech by its president Christine Lagarde on Thursday.
Market participants should watch carefully how the ECB fares after more positive inflation data from the US, analysts at Activtrades said. “If conservative hawks gradually take control of the ECB, key rate movements in the eurozone will be much larger than in the US,” they added. This should further strengthen the euro, which has again broken parity against the franc.
“The stock market crash feared by many observers is not reflected in stock prices, but in the number of pessimists that is dwindling,” analysts at CMC Markets commented in a note. According to them, the sharp drop in equity markets in 2022 may just be a correction of “an intact bull market”.
At around 10:40 am on the Swiss Stock Exchange, the SMI index accelerated by 0.41% to 11,336.42 points. It closed up a minuscule 0.03% on Friday evening. The SLI instead rose by 0.49% to 1754.51 points and the SPI gained 0.40% to 14,550.16 points.
The vast majority of star stocks remained in green, still preceded by Temenos (+6.5%). The banking software publisher saw its profitability decline in the fourth quarter of 2022. While revenues declined only slightly year-over-year, operating performance was reduced by more than a quarter. In the process, the Genevan company announced the departure of general manager Max Chuard and the imminent replacement of its president Andreas Andreades.
Other stocks that stood out were Partners Group (+3.0%), Sika (+2.0%) and Straumann (+2.0%).
The construction chemist has sold the additives business of the MBCC group to Ineos Enterprises, allowing the Zug-based company to move forward with the completion of the acquisition of this unit from the German BASF. Sika confirmed that the acquisition of the latter, which should be finalized in the first semester, should generate synergies of 160 to 180 million. Berenberg also lowered its construction chemical price target, while Jefferies raised it.
Meanwhile, Credit Suisse analysts lowered the Zug asset manager’s price target to 1,050 Swiss francs, from 1,100 Swiss francs previously, while the recommendation was kept at “outperform.”
Geberit closes the ranking (-1.0%), followed by AMS-Osram (-0.9%) and Swiss re (-0.7%). Kepler Cheuvreux raised Geberit’s price target, but moderated its recommendation.
In the broader market, Tecan (-4.7%) stood out after Kepler Cheuvreux’s recommendation downgrade.
Molecular Partners (+3.2%) has given a first patient the investigational treatment Darpin against acute myeloid leukemia, marking the start of a phase I clinical study.
Ypsomed (+10.1%) jumped, driven by an increase in Credit Suisse’s “outperform” recommendation.
Other SPI stocks that showed notable changes include Cicom (-14.8%) and Kuros (-5.3%), as well as Kinarus (+8.2%) and Peach Property (+7.9%).
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