Swiss stocks rally after US-Iran ceasefire announcement

Swiss stock market: SMI rebounds after ceasefire announcement Keystone-SDA

The Swiss stock market opened sharply higher on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran. Despite continued volatility, investors were expected to regain their appetite for risk.

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This easing, though fragile, is “allowing a quick return of risk appetite, which should support cyclical stocks and sectors most exposed to energy prices,” says John Plassard, a partner at Cité Gestion. He cautions, however, that the rally rests on assumptions of stabilisation that remain highly uncertain, meaning market volatility is likely to stay elevated in the sessions ahead.

Thomas Gitzel, chief economist at VP Bank, says the sharp fall in oil prices offers particular grounds for optimism. “It gives us hope that the rise in inflation will prove short‑lived,” he says. “If oil prices were to stabilise over the longer term, central banks might also hold back from the much‑feared interest rate rises.”

By 9:10am, Brent crude was down 15.4% at $93.94 (CHF74.06) per barrel, while US crude (WTI) had fallen 15.2% to $95.83.

On the macroeconomic front, market observers were awaiting the eurozone’s producer price index (PPI), due later this morning. Attention will then turn to the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting, expected around 8pm.

In Switzerland, the unemployment rate edged down in March to 3.1%, a fall of 0.1 percentage points compared with February.

On the Swiss stock exchange, the benchmark SMI was up 3.31% at 09:10am, at 13,214.34 points, after closing 1.48% lower the previous day.

Almost all the leading stocks were higher, with only defensive telecoms group Swisscom slipping slightly, down 0.07%, while transport and logistics firm Kühne + Nagel was flat. Leading the gains was engineering group ABB, up 7.9%, followed by cement maker Holcim, which rose 7.6%, and dental implants specialist Straumann, up 6.8%, after Goldman Sachs cut its target price to CHF95 from CHF100.

Among the heavyweight stocks, UBS gained 4.4%, while pharmaceutical groups Novartis and Roche rose 2.4% and 2.3% respectively. Food giant Nestlé was up 1.3%.

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Translated from French by AI/sp

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