Zurich (awp) – The Swiss stock exchange, after having moved for almost all of the session in the red, managed to recover at the end of the day to finish just in equilibrium. In New York, apart from the Dow Jones which rose, the other two main indices were losing ground.
“Evidence showing that Omicron is not as virulent as previous variants, despite a higher contagion capacity, reinforces the hope that the (health) restrictions will be shorter than expected and the damage to the economy minimal” , said Craig Erlam, analyst from Oanda.
Despite this observation, stakeholders are still faced with an environment marked by uncertainties, high inflation and tightening monetary policies. “Many risks remain,” Erlam warned in a comment.
The SMI ended the day with a tiny increase of 0.04% to 12,906.37 points, with a session low of 12,825.90 points and a high of 12,906.37 points. The SLI index gained 0.19% to 2,079.39 points, while the SPI contracted 0.21% to 16,450.34 points.
Large-cap Nestlé (-2.7%) weighed heavily on the flagship index. The action of the giant Vevey paid the price for a recommendation for sale by Jefferies. The costs of raw materials and those generated by commitments to sustainability are expected to weigh on margins in 2022. The analyst believes that it will be difficult to maintain the flow of news that has boosted the share price of late. elsewhere too expensive.
The other two heavyweights Novartis (+ 0.8%) and Roche (+ 0.9%) on the other hand supported the positive trend. Novartis has announced the signature, through its Canadian subsidiary, of an exclusive contract with Covis Canada for the distribution of Breezhaler in this North American market. Roche has for its part agreed to feed the first human trials of the Californian laboratory at the clinical stage Rain Therapeutics with its drug aezolizumab.
The two other stocks to post sharp drops are Temenos (-1.8%) and Straumann (-1.5%).
At the other end of the table are the luxury goods Swatch (+ 3.9%) and Richemont (+ 3.1%), as well as Logitech (+ 2.7%).
Banks Julius Bär (+ 0.4%), Credit Suisse (+ 0.5%) and UBS (+ 0.7%) also ended up in the green. The double-sided bank has appointed a new manager for its wealth management activities in Spain.
On the enlarged market, SIG Combibloc (+ 1.7%) bought out activities in Asia from its American counterpart Pactiv Evergreen for 335 million dollars. Asia Pacific Fresh (or Evergreen Asia) forecasts for the past year revenues of around 160 million dollars for a gross surplus (Ebitda) of 28 million.
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