Zurich (awp) – The Swiss Stock Exchange started the week in mixed order. After a still negative opening and a low of the day at the start of the session, the SMI recovered and began to evolve in the green from the first hour of transactions. He stayed there until the end, except for a small alert at 2 p.m.
In New York, Wall Street gave ground in the morning.
“Risk aversion is a lingering sentiment on Wall Street on Monday,” Wells Fargo analysts noted in a note. “Concerns over the outlook for global economic growth continue to weigh on confidence,” they added.
Investors were digesting disappointing data in particular from China, where retail sales suffered their biggest fall in two years in May and where unemployment rose sharply.
The poor forecasts of the European Commission for the euro zone have not gone unnoticed either: the economic growth projection has been lowered by 1.3 points to 2.7% for 2022 and that of inflation has increased by 3, 5 points to 6.1%, due to the war in Ukraine.
In addition, on the American side, the manufacturing indicator for the New York region fell sharply, showing a contraction in activity, much more severe than expected. The Empire State barometer, published by the Fed, plunged 11.6 points, showing sluggish business morale.
The SMI ended up 0.19% at 11,672.23 points, with a high of 11,721.57 and a low of 11,584.56. The SLI fell 0.24% to 1809.19 points and the SPI gained 0.13% to 15,001.59 points. Of the 30 star stocks, 22 fell and 8 advanced.
Today’s podium consists of Novartis (+1.4%), Adecco (+1.3%) and Roche (+1.1%).
Bank of America raised the target price of the Roche dividend certificate and confirmed “buy”. The analyst struck out from his modeling any contribution of the experimental anti-cancer drug tiragolumab, in the wake of a clinical failure.
Nestlé (+0.6%) also supported the index.
In banking, Credit Suisse (+0.2%) gained ground, Julius Bär (-0.2%) and UBS (-1.2%) lost.
The bank with the two veils would be close to a new agreement with a debtor of Greensill funds, the American mining company Bluestone Resources, said the Financial Times newspaper. The establishment of the Paradeplatz could receive some 690 million dollars to redistribute to cheated investors.
Temenos (-3.1%) finished bottom, behind Swatch and AMS Osram (each -2.6%) and VAT (-2.1%).
Temenos has appointed Roman Bartik responsible for the Americas region and member of the extended management.
Morgan Stanley lowered Swatch’s price target and affirmed “underweight”. The analyst predicts a contraction of one tenth in sales of Swiss watches in China over the first three months of the year. Watchmaking would thus develop less well than other sectors of the luxury market.
Less exposed to pure watchmaking, Richemont (+0.2%) finished in the green.
Holcim (-0.9%) announced on Sunday the sale of its activities in India, Ambuja Cement and ACC, to the Adani group for 6.4 billion Swiss francs. This confirmation came to put an end to several weeks of speculation on this operation. In addition, the Paris Court of Appeal will deliver its verdict on Wednesday in the Lafarge case in Syria.
On the broader market, Sulzer (-4.0%) was penalized by the sanctions imposed by Poland against its reference shareholder Viktor Vekselberg. The industrial group must suspend its activities in the country. Former subsidiary of Sulzer now listed on the stock exchange, Medmix (-17.6%) is also affected by these measures.
Oerlikon (-2.4%) of which Mr. Vekselberg is also a major shareholder (41% via Liwet Holding) has not yet indicated whether the new Polish sanctions will hamper its activities, while the company has several production sites in Poland.
LM Group (+%, formerly Lastminute) managed to end the first quarter of 2022 with positive results, both at operational and net level, even if they remain below the pre-pandemic level. Neither the war in Ukraine nor inflation have so far had a significant impact on business performance.
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