Research Market strategy
By Swissquote Analysts
Published on 05.09.2023
Morning news

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Sells Westfield Valencia Town Center To Centennial

Topic of the day

French real estate company Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (UNBLF, UNRDY) announced that it has sold Westfield Valencia Town Center, a Regional mall in Santa Clarita, California, to Centennial Real Estate for $199 million, above the $195 million debt amount on the asset. The company said the deal value reflects a less than 3 percent discount to its last unaffected appraisal. URW said it has contributed to its deleveraging target with the deal while partnering with Centennial and its lenders to establish an alternative to the transfer of ownership back to its lenders. Westfield Valencia Town Center, an A- rated, 1 million square foot centre, holds occupancy of 87 percent.

Swiss stocks

After opening marginally up and advancing further, the Switzerland stock market stayed positive till about a couple of hours past noon on Monday before turning weak ending the session marginally down. Stocks moved higher early on in the session as last Friday's mixed jobs data from the U.S. raised hopes the Federal Reserve is down with raising interest rates. Expectations of more stimulus in China helped as well. However, the mood turned cautious midway through the session. The benchmark SMI, which climbed to 11,141.31 around mid morning, ended with a loss of 21.56 points or 0.19% at 11,053.59. Kuehne & Nagel ended 1.65% down. Holcim, Swiss Life Holding, Zurich Insurance Group, Roche Holding, Swiss Re and Alcon lost 0.5 to 0.9%. Swiss food and beverage giant Nestle SA ended 0.4% down. The stock moved higher earlier in the session after the company announced the divestment of its peanut allergy treatment business, Palforzia, to Stallergenes Gree. UBS Group, Partners Group and Logitech gained 1 to 1.25%. Richemont climbed 0.8%, while Lonza Group advanced about 0.6%. In the Mid Price Index, Clariant dropped 3%. DocMorris ended 1.85% down, and Bachem Holding declined 1.1%. Temenos Group, Schindler Holding, Schindler Ps, Barry Callebaut, Helvetia and Galenic Sante ended lower by 0.5 to 1%. Straumann Holding surged nearly 2%. AMS, Swatch Group and Meyer Burger Tech gained 1.7%, 1.55% and 1.39%, respectively. VAT Group advanced by about 1%. Official data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs showed the Swiss economic output was stable in the second quarter as the improvement in household consumption was offset by the fall in investment. Gross domestic product stayed flat from the first quarter, when the economy expanded by 0.3%. Economists had expected a 0.1% rise for the June quarter.

International markets

Europe

Major European markets failed to hold gains and closed lower on Monday with investors turning cautious and lightening commitments towards the end of the day's session. Investors looked ahead to monetary policy decisions of major central banks, including the Federal Reserve, Bank of England and the European Central Bank. Investors also digested the latest batch of economic data and earnings updates. The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.04%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended down 0.16%, Germany's DAX slipped 0.1% and France's CAC 40 lost 0.24%, while Switzerland's SMI declined 0.19%. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Poland and Spain ended weak.

Austria, Denmark, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher, while Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Portugal ended flat. In the UK market, Entain rallied 2.8%. Glencore climbed about 2.1%. IAG, Pearson, Weir Group and Barclays gained 1 to 1.4%. Budget airline Wizz Air Holdings gained 1.7% after unveiling passenger traffic figures for August. Admiral Group, Johnson Matthey, Endeavour Mining, Croda International, Vodafone Group, Land Securities, Standard Chartered, Ashtead Group, Hiscox, Haleon, Fresnillo and B&M European Value Retail lost 1 to 2.5%. In the German market, RWE, Deutsche Post and Qiagen lost about 2%, 1.7% and 1.4%, respectively. Deutsche Boerse, Henkel, Beiersdorf and Hannover Rueck also closed notably lower. Commerzbank and Merck both gained about 1.25%. Mercedes-Benz Group, Infineon Technologies, Adidas, Porsche AG, Vonovia and Zalando posted moderate gains. In Paris, Saint Gobain declined more than 3%. Societe Generale shed about 1.7%. Bouygues, Veolia, Carrefour, Danone, ArcelorMittal and Renault lost 0.5 to 1.1%. Teleperformance climbed more than 2%. Thales gained about 1.1%. Essilor, Michelin and Dassault Systemes also closed higher. Shares of Swedish biotech firm Medivir AB surged more than 8% after the company released promising interim data, including a first complete response in phase 1b/2a HCC study with fostrox in combination with Lenvima in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

United States

U.S. markets were closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

Asia

After the firmer prices at the start of the week - especially on the Chinese stock exchanges - the indices decline on Tuesday. Shanghai (-0.6 per cent) and Hong Kong (-1.5 per cent) drop the most. In Tokyo, however, the Nikkei index loses only 0.1 per cent to 32,914 points. In Sydney, the index comes back by 0.3 per cent. The tendency to take profits is reinforced by the purchasing managers' index of Chinese service providers, which was significantly lower in August than in July. However, it remained above the 50 mark for at least the eighth month in a row, indicating growth. Beijing's recent easing measures to support the real estate sector and consumption are important, but not yet sufficient, say analysts at Nomura. Other market participants also report waning optimism about the latest economic stimuli.

Bonds

The Swiss bond market is slightly weaker at the start of the week. The market is consolidating at a high level, said one trader. "We have already gone a bit far since the beginning of the year. Therefore, profit-taking is nothing out of the ordinary." Meanwhile, the issuance carousel continues to spin at high speed.

Analysis

UBS raises the Siltronic target to EUR 78 (69) – Neutral
SocGen raises the 1&1 target to EUR 10.50 (9.10)/Sell – Trader
Warburg lowers the Allane target to EUR 11.50 (13) – Hold

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