Swiss equities extended their early-week upward trend on Thursday, with the Swiss Market Index (SMI) gaining 0.2% to 13,906.75 points as of 11:30, supported by relief among investors after the US Federal Reserve delivered its anticipated 25-basis-point rate hike.
The mid-cap SMIM index outperformed, rising 0.96% to 3,049.40 points, while the broad SPI index advanced 0.37% to 19,630.16. Earlier in the session, the SMI had climbed 0.29% to 13,909.01 points, with the SMIM up 1.00% at 3,050.74 and the SPI higher 0.41% at 19,637.74.
ABB led SMI gainers with a 1.3% advance, followed by Logitech, UBS and Novartis each rising up to 1.2%. Twelve of twenty SMI constituents traded higher. ABB added another 1.0% later in the session, with Lonza climbing 0.9% and Logitech up 0.8%.
The UBS shares rose 0.8%, buoyed by a ruling from the upper house of parliament, the Ständerat, which voted to take up the question of tighter capital requirements for systemically important banks with foreign operations — a development seen as a partial victory for the bank. Ständerat Andrea Caroni withdrew his proposal to hand the decision to the federal executive council.
At Roche, profit-taking weighed on the stock despite positive late-stage clinical data released that morning. Analysts deemed the results only marginally influential since the drug is already approved, and Roche fell 0.7% to 0.8%. Defensive names Alcon, Givaudan and Swisscom also dipped between 0.2% and 1.0%, while Amrize edged lower 0.3%.
In the mid-cap segment, Helvetia Baloise was the standout performer, surging between 3.3% and 3.9% after reporting half-year results that Vontobel said clearly exceeded average market expectations, particularly on synergy realization. Sandoz gained 1.7% and Galderma rose 0.8%; both shares will be added to the SMI next week.
The day's sharpest decline came from Rieter, which dropped between 6.8% and 16% after UBS pulled the rating cord, downgrading the industrial stock from Hold to Sell with a new price target of CHF 2.00. Ypsomed fell 1.7% to 2.2% after Stifel cut its rating to Hold from Buy, setting a target of CHF 380. Medacta also lost 1.4% on cautious analyst commentary. MCH rose 4.2% and Aevis gained 2.9% on post-results searching, while Swissquote advanced over 1%.
On the Avolta front, ZKB moved to overweight versus benchmark weights, while Research Partners lowered its price target to CHF 137.70 from CHF 151, maintaining a Hold rating. Octavian upgraded its participation-note rating on Schindler to Buy from Hold and raised its target to CHF 320 from CHF 310.
European markets mirrored the positive sentiment. Germany's DAX rose 0.7% to 25,705, continuing Wednesday's advance from 25,537.75, while the MDax edged 0.1% higher to 31,315. The EuroStoxx 50 climbed 0.7%, and overnight US futures on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each gained 0.7%.
Oil prices eased further, with Brent crude falling more than 1% to USD 104.21 per barrel and WTI dropping to USD 101.07 — both down roughly USD 3 from Wednesday. Reports that Saudi Arabia plans to export oil via Oman and comments from President Donald Trump suggesting a soon-end to the Iran conflict reduced near-term supply-constraint fears that had pushed crude to a four-month high earlier in the week.
