Stock markets swing to stabilization course
Published: Tuesday, Aug 6th 2024, 10:20
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The financial markets began to stabilize in early European trading on Tuesday. After two days in the red, traders are now expecting a recovery. On the Swiss stock market, however, this is initially being held back somewhat by the declining heavyweights Novartis, Roche and Nestlé. There are also signs of easing on the currency markets.
Recently, US recession and war worries on the international stock markets led to heavy price losses. The leading Swiss index, the SMI, fell by more than 6 percent overall. "Some courageous investors are now likely to use the lower prices as an entry opportunity," said one trader.
At around 09:45 on Tuesday morning, the SMI was trading 0.14% higher at 11,560 points. Other European share indices such as the Dax in Frankfurt and the FTSE100 in London (both +0.3%) also advanced slightly. The Japanese Nikkei index, which has been badly battered recently, even jumped by 9.5 percent. On Monday, it had plummeted by 13%.
The situation is also easing on the currency front. After many investors fled to the "safe haven" Swiss franc in the wake of growing uncertainty, the euro moved back above the threshold of 93 centimes and is now trading at 0.9354 francs. The US dollar is trading at 0.8560 Swiss francs after recently being well below 85 centimes.
And in the world of cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin was also able to recover somewhat from the price slump below the USD 50,000 mark. The world's most important cryptocurrency is currently trading at just under 56,000 US dollars. Over the week, however, this still represents a drop of 16%.
On the Swiss stock exchange, the blue chips are currently led by the shares of hearing aid manufacturer Sonova (+5.0%), followed by shares that are also recovering well, such as those of reinsurer Swiss Re (+1.7%) and building materials groups Sika (+1.4%) and Holcim (+1.3%).
On the other hand, heavyweights such as Novartis (-0.6%), Roche non-voting equity securities (-0.5%) and Nestlé (-0.1%) fell. The luxury goods manufacturer Richemont (-0.9%) lost even more ground.
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