(AWP / SPU) After another crash on Thursday, the week ended with a massive countermovement. But this fizzled out in the afternoon. The Swiss Market Index SMI (SMI 8367.56 1.17%) gained 0.2% at the opening. A few minutes later, it posted gains of 3.5%. Then it went up markedly – above the mark of 8500, 8600, 8700, 8800, 8900 and even 9000. With the opening of Wallstreet, the SMI came back and went through all stages again up to the mark of 8300. The VSMI, the fear barometer of the Swiss Stock exchange, shot up to almost 60. At this level you can see the nervousness, even panic, of the investors.
Most market observers did not believe that the sell-off was already over. Since the all-time high of 11,270 points, which was marked three weeks ago, the SMI has lost 3000 points or around 25%. The conditions of a bear market – a minus of 20% compared to the highest level – are thus clearly fulfilled, according to stock marketers.
On Wall Street, prices initially rose significantly after the slump, but the US indices were also unable to maintain their advances. The Dow Jones (Dow Jones 23185.62 9.36%) gained 1.6% at the close of trading. Also the broader S&P 500 (SP500 2711.02 9.29%) advanced 1.6%. The Nasdaq Composite of the US technology exchange gained 1.4%. The Dow Jones closed more or less at a daily low of 10% on Thursday, experiencing the largest percentage crash in over thirty years. For Friday evening (8 p.m. Swiss time), US President Donald Trump has announced another media conference on the corona crisis.
Richemont at the top
Roche placed in the SMI (ROG 283.1 3.15%) at times by up to 10% and Novartis too (NOVN 70.95 1.42%) got dressed. However, only a part of the strong advances remained. The pharmaceutical company Roche had made its first breakthrough in the rapid and broad diagnosis of the novel coronavirus. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given the Cobas Sars CoV-2 test emergency approval. “Anything that could help against Corona is soaked up,” said a dealer. Meanwhile, Novartis was confident about the supply chain and inventory.
The shares of the Nestlé food company (NESN 90 -0.14%) remained behind the overall market and closed minimally in the red. Sika too (SIKA 143.45 3.61%) could not keep up with the level of the early afternoon, but ultimately saved profits in the weekend.
The luxury goods manufacturer Richemont (CFR 52.32 3.89%) and Swatch Group (CLOCK 172.7 1.89%) closed higher. The corporations suffer particularly badly from the spread of the corona virus. Financial stocks such as UBS (UBSG 8,052 1.9%) and Credit Suisse (CSGN 7,294 -1.11%) lost their profits and even turned into the loss zone. Swiss Re’s insurance stocks are lower (SREN 67.7 -1.68%), Swiss Life (SLHN 330.5 -1.96%) and Zurich Insurance (Angry 290.1 1.12%).
Cyclical stocks like Adecco (ADEN 35.67 -2.27%) and LafargeHolcim (LHN 34.11 -1.59%) noted at the end of the tableau.
Dufry with roller coaster ride
Dufry (DUFN 28.98 5.92%) swayed massively. When opened, they rose up to 17%. So-called bottom fishing occurred yesterday, when investors speculated that the travel retailer’s stock had hit rock bottom with the panicky sellout yesterday. Then the titles collapsed and were in the red. At the end of trading there was a full increase again. Dufry had presented good numbers for 2019, but the corona effect creates great uncertainty in business.
With Zurich Airport (FHZN 108.4 3.04%) another title, which particularly suffers from the corona effect, closed more firmly.
AMS also saw strong discounts (AMS 17.3 -9.87%). In addition to the highly unsettled market environment, the chip manufacturer is also subject to conditions for the capital increase for the Osram takeover, which will disappoint investors.
According to the years, the papers of the semiconductor manufacturer U-Blox lost. Mobilezone lost after the cell phone operator reported numbers in the morning.
Bachem (BANB 161 0.5%) braced the bearish trend and were slightly up as a result of the publication of the figures. The biochemical company had increased its goals.
Severe losses in Asia
Asia’s stock exchange in Tokyo slumped again. The Nikkei index for 225 leading stocks lost 6.1%, in the meantime the minus was around 10%. For the first time since November 2016, the stock market barometer was listed below 18,000. The Topix slid 5% downhill.
The prices continued to be in a downward spiral on the Seoul stock exchange. Panic sales led to the leading index Kospi (Kospi 1768.73 -2.9%) dropped by almost 150 points or more than 8% to 1,685.08 in the morning by 11:10 am local time. It hasn’t been this low in eight and a half years. At the end of trading, there was a loss of 3.4%.
In China, prices fell slightly less. The Shanghai Composite lost 1.5%, the CSI300 was 1.8% in the red. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 2.2%.
The Australian indices were able to decouple from the general malaise. The ASX 200 gained 4.4%.
Significant fluctuations in the currency market
The gains of the euro exchange rate on Friday were pulverized. After significant advances against the dollar at 5:30 p.m. CET in the meantime, the European common currency was significantly easier at $ 1,1083. The dollar rose sharply against the franc, hitting the CHF 0.95 mark again. It was trading at CHF 0.9532. The pair of Euro-Francs was slightly firmer at CHF 1.0566.
Gold price clearly lower
The oil price only traded a little firmer on Friday after significant losses from the previous day. Here, too, an attempt to recover failed. A barrel (159 liters) of the North Sea Brent (Brent 33.96 2.78%) was $ 33 at market close in Europe. gold (gold 1529.95 -2.93%) lost significantly, trading at $ 1529 a troy ounce.
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