Swiss stock market sets a new benchmark above 13,000 points

The day after the German elections, the flagship Swiss index quickly slipped into the red before recovering to break through the 13,000-point barrier for the first time. Keystone-SDA

The Swiss Market Index (SMI) hit a new all-time high on Monday morning, briefly exceeding 13,000 points, following the victory of the mainstream conservatives in the German parliamentary elections.

The German conservatives (CDU/CSU) won Sunday’s parliamentary elections with 28.5% of the vote, followed in second place by a record score of 20.5% for the far-right Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD) in a crucial election for Europe.

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“From the point of view of the financial markets, the initial reaction is broadly positive,” said Arthur Jurus, investment director at Oddo BHF Switzerland. “Despite these positive short-term signals, the road to a more flexible fiscal policy remains fraught with pitfalls. The fact that the traditional parties failed to win the two-thirds of seats needed to review the constitutional limits on indebtedness is cause for caution,” he added in a statement.

+ Swiss papers see several hurdles ahead for winner of German elections

In Switzerland, the corporate results agenda looks set to be extremely busy over the next few days, with some 30 submissions expected, including those of Alcon, Adecco, Swiss Re and Holcim.

After opening close to equilibrium, the flagship Swiss index quickly slipped into the red before recovering to break through the 13,000-point barrier for the first time.

Translated from French with DeepL/gw

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