War worries weigh on Swiss stock market
Published: Tuesday, Oct 1st 2024, 18:40
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The Swiss stock market made a weak start to the final quarter on Tuesday. After an initially positive performance, the market turned negative with the start of trading on the US stock exchanges. According to traders, this was due to the threat of a further escalation of the war in the Middle East following Israel's invasion of Lebanon. According to a high-ranking White House official, the US has indications that Iran intends to launch a missile attack on Israel in the near future.
"Nervousness has returned, and many investors prefer to take price gains," explained one market expert. This was compounded by the port workers' strike on the East and Gulf coasts of the USA. This halted all flows of goods in the affected ports. Analysts fear that the strike could lead to supply bottlenecks and higher prices for consumers and cost the US economy billions of US dollars.
The Swiss Market Index closed 0.7% lower at 12,087 points. Other European indices such as the DAX in Frankfurt (-0.6%) and the CAC 40 in Paris (-0.8%) also closed lower. In the USA, the Nasdaq technology index in particular fell in early trading (-1.6%).
Technology stocks such as Logitech (-3.6%) and VAT (-1.4%) came under greater pressure in Germany. They slipped into negative territory in the wake of the weakening US technology stock market.
In the case of Kuehne + Nagel shares (-1.5%), traders cited the strike by US port workers and its uncertain consequences for the logistics company as a burden. The logistics group expects "considerable delays" and is bracing itself for prolonged difficulties, as it stated in response to an inquiry from AWP.
The defensive heavyweights Novartis (-0.4%) and Nestlé (-0.1%) performed slightly better than the market. By contrast, profit-taking weighed on Roche (-2.1%). At the beginning of the week, Roche was still able to inspire investors on Pharma Day, it was said.
Profit-taking weighed on Richemont (-2.2%) and Swatch (-1.6%). The two luxury goods stocks had benefited in the previous week from the stimulus measures announced in China.
The higher risk aversion also drove investors into the Swiss franc, with the euro falling back below the threshold of 94 centimes at 0.9360 francs. And at 0.8450 francs, the US dollar was down almost half a centime on its high for the day.
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