Swiss Market Ends On Firm Note After Inflation Data

(RTTNews) - The Switzerland stock market ended on a firm note on Monday after staying positive right through the day's session thanks to sustained buying at several counters after data showed an unexpected drop in inflation in the month of November.

The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 65.08 points or 0.6% at 10,952.44.

Shares of drug major Roche Holding gained 2.8% after the company said it agreed to buy Carmot Therapeutics, Inc., a privately owned US clinical-stage biotechnology company, for $2.7 billion upfront in cash and additional milestone payments of up to $400 million.

Swiss Re advanced about 1.3% and Nestle climbed 1.03%. Novartis ended about 0.9% up, while Zurich Insurance Company and Richemont gained 0.52% and 0.5%, respectively. Givaudan edged up 0.15%.

Alcon ended lower by about 2.6%. Lonza Group drifted down 1.4%, Holcim and ABB also ended notably lower, while Swisscom and Geberit ended down 0.63% and 0.56%, respectively.

Swiss Life Holding ended lower by 0.8% after the firm said its Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Frost, will step down at its Annual General Meeting on May 15, 2024. The company has appointed current Chief Financial Officer, Matthias Aellig, as new CEO with effect from May 16.

Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, ams OSRAM Ag gained 4.75%, Meyer Burger Tech climbed 4.3% and Temenos Group ended higher by about 1.3%.

VAT Group, Belimo Holding and Tecan Group lost 2.4 to 3.2%. Clariant, Straumann Holding, SIG Combibloc and Julius Baer ended down 1.4 to 2%.

Flughafen Zurich, Galenica Sante, Schindler Holding and SGS also closed notably lower.

Data from the Federal Statistical Office showed Switzerland's consumer price inflation eased unexpectedly in November to the lowest level in just over two years amid a slowdown in prices in a broad number of categories.

The consumer price index, or CPI, climbed 1.4% year-over-year in November, after a 1.7% stable rate of increase in October. Economists had expected inflation to remain stable at 1.7%.

Moreover, inflation remained within the central bank's target range of 0-2%.

Overall inflation was largely driven by a 3.2% rise in prices for housing and energy, which grew 2.6% in October, the data showed.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices dropped 0.2% in November, reversing a 0.1% rise in the previous month.

Data showed that core inflation edged down to 1.4% from 1.5%.

"The unexpected fall in Swiss inflation in November ensures that the SNB will not be at all tempted to raise interest rates in December, despite the Bank's recent statements to the contrary," Adrian Prettejohn, an economist at Capital Economics, said.