Swiss stocks - Factors to watch on July 30

SF Urban Properties AG

30/07/2014 07:20

ZURICH, July 30 (Reuters) - Swiss stocks were seen opening a 
touch lower on Wednesday, as investors await U.S. growth figures 
and the conclusion of the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day policy 
meeting. 
    The Swiss blue-chip SMI  .SSMI  was seen opening 0.1 percent 
lower at 8,521 points, according to premarket indications by 
bank Julius Baer  JBPRE01 . 
    The following are some of the main factors expected to 
affect Swiss stocks on Wednesday. 
     
    NOVARTIS  NOVN.VX  
    Moves by three of the four major U.S. contact lens makers to 
set price floors for many of their products, preventing low-cost 
retailers from discounting the expensive devices, have drawn 
scrutiny from lawmakers. 
    For more, click on  NOVN.VX  
     
    NOBEL BIOCARE  NOBN.S   
    Swiss dental implant maker Nobel Biocare  NOBN.S  confirmed 
on Tuesday that it has been approached by potential buyers and 
is in "very early" talks with them about its sale. 
    For more, click on  NOBN.S  
     
    HOLCIM  HOLN.VX   
    Swiss cement maker Holcim  HOLN.VX , which is preparing to 
merge with French peer Lafarge  LAFP.PA , said second-quarter 
net profit rose nearly 6 percent as a cost-cutting and 
restructuring drive helped offset the impact of a drop in sales. 
    For more, click on  HOLN.VX  
     
    VONTOBEL  VONN.S   
    Swiss bank Vontobel Holding  VONN.S  said on Wednesday first 
half net profit fell 3 percent from a year earlier, slightly 
exceeding expectations. 
    For more, click on  VONN.S         
     
    COMPANY STATEMENTS  CPR-CH  
    * Clariant  CLN.VX  said it expected low to mid-single-digit 
sales growth in local currencies in 2014, as it posted 1.5 
billion Swiss francs ($1.65 billion) in sales for the second 
quarter of the year.  CLN.VX  
    * Bucher Industries  BUCN.S  posted a 4.2 percent rise in 
first-half sales, but said it expects a moderate fall in 
profitability from the record high in the year before.  BUCN.S  
    * Newron  NWRN.S  said it received a refusal to file letter 
for experimental Parkinsons drug safinamide from U.S. health 
regulators, citing organization and navigation problems in the 
company's submission.  NWRN.S  
    * Gottex  GFMN.S  said it has received approval from 
Switzerland's financial regulator to merge with EIM Group, which 
is expected to complete during August, to form a combined firm 
with $8.5 billion in fee-earning assets.  GFMN.S  
    * Swiss Finance & Property Investment AG  SFPN.S  said net 
profit excluding revaluation effects and deferred taxes 
increased by 17 percent to 4.8 million Swiss francs in the first 
half, according to preliminary unaudited results.  SFPN.S  
    * Tecan Group AG  TECN.S  said it is acquiring IBL to offer 
integrated solutions for speciality diagnostics.  TECN.S  
    * Cosmo Pharmaceuticals  COPN.S  said first-half profit rose 
to 76.8 million euros ($102.97 million) from 63.3 million on a 
sharp rise in sales, and expects strong growth in Uceris sales. 
 COPN.S  
 
     
    ECONOMY  M-CH  
    * The UBS Swiss consumption indicator rose to 2.06 points in 
June from 1.80 (1.77) points in May, the Swiss bank's economists 
said.  CHUBSC=ECI  
    * KOF indicator for July due at 0700 GMT  CHKOFL=ECI  
 
     
    ((Zurich newsroom +41 58 306 7340, fax 41 44 251 0476,  
zurich.newsroom@news.reuters.com))  
 
($1 = 0.7459 Euros) 
($1 = 0.9068 Swiss Francs) 
 
  
((Xtra clients: for Top News Pages in multimedia Web format,  
double click on http://topnews.session.rservices.com  
 FOR RELATED PRICES, NEWS AND OTHER TOPICS, DOUBLE-CLICK ON: 
     
 Daily Swiss stock market report in German................ .SDE  
 Daily pan-European stocksdex SMI moves.................. .SSMI   
 All SMI constituent stocks............................ 0#.SSMI   
 News on major Swiss stock price moves.................. CH-HOT  
 Table on major world stock market performance...........  .STX  
 FTSE Eurotop 300 index................................  .FTEU3  
 DJ STOXX index........................................  .STOXX  
 Top 10 STOXX sectors.............................  .PGL.STOXXS   
 Top 10 EUROSTOXX sectors........................  .PGL.STOXXES  
 Top 10 Eurotop 300 sectors.......................  .PGL.FTEU3S  
 Top 25 European pct gainers...  .PG.PEUR , losers...  .PL.PEUR  
     
 Swiss mid-cap index      .SSMI   SMI futures            0#SMI:  
 Swiss all-share index    .SSHI   Market statistics   CH/STATS1  
 Swiss market digest      .AD.S   Sector overview    CH/SECTOR1  
 All Swiss news              CH   Swiss diary          CH/DIARY  
 Swiss research news     CH-RCH   Virt-x sectors     VX/SECTOR1  
 All equity news              E   Virt-x price index      .VMIP  
     
 INTERNET ADDRESSES:             Virt-x       www.virt-x.com  
  
 Swiss Exchange  www.swx.ch/     SEGAIntersettle    www.sega.ch/  
 Eurex   www.eurexchange.com     STOXX Ltd         www.stoxx.com  
  
 SPEED GUIDES:  VX/EQUITY   EQUITY   EQUITY/NEWS1   EUR/EQUITY   
  SWITZERLAND   REUTERS  )) 
 
Keywords: MARKETS SWISS STOCKS