Despite lingering in negative territory until about an hour before the closing bell, the Swiss market managed to end slightly higher on Monday, as a few top stocks found support in the final minutes of the session.
The benchmark SMI concluded with a modest gain of 14.89 points, or 0.12%, to close at 12,451.48. The index had touched a session low of 12,367.29.
Among the notable gainers, Swisscom rose by 1.21%, and Zurich Insurance Group ended nearly 1% up. Companies such as VAT Group, Lindt & Sprüngli, ABB, Schindler PS, Novartis, Kuehne + Nagel, Holcim, and Geberit recorded gains between 0.4% and 0.75%.
Conversely, Sandoz Group, Straumann Holding, SIG Group, and Lonza Group closed down between 1.2% and 1.47%.
Julius Baer slipped by 0.81%, while Swatch Group, Logitech International, SGS, Nestlé, and Sonova ended lower by 0.4% to 0.6%.
In economic news, Switzerland's retail sales unexpectedly grew by 2.7% year-on-year in July 2024, surpassing market expectations of a 0.2% decline. This growth is a recovery from the upwardly revised 2.6% drop in June, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office. This marks the first increase in retail sales since April and the fastest pace since February 2022.
On a monthly basis, retail sales unexpectedly rose 1.4% in July – the most significant increase in 13 months – recovering from an upwardly revised 0.3% decline in June.
Additionally, the Swiss procure.ch and Credit Suisse Manufacturing PMI rose to 49 in August 2024, up from both the previous month's reading and market expectations of 43.5. This indicates the 20th consecutive period of contraction, yet it is the mildest contraction since January 2023.
