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Swiss Market Index Remains in Red; SIG Group Shares Rise

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The Swiss Market Index remained in negative territory on Tuesday, closing 0.13% lower, as investors mull over a barrage of corporate earnings releases amid a quiet day of local economic news.

Pharmaceutical major Novartis (NOVN.SW), packaging company SIG Group (SIGN.SW), machinery industry company Bucher Industries (BUCN.SW), and biopharmaceutical group Idorsia (IDIA.SW) were among Switzerland-listed companies that published financial results.

SIG Group saw its shares jump 12.82% as it reported a year-over-year surge in first-quarter net income to 67.3 million euros from 15.6 million euros, mainly driven by unrealized gains from polymer derivatives and aluminum. The Switzerland-based packaging company's total revenue, on the other hand, declined to 714.3 million euros from 745.9 million euros. For 2026, the group maintained its guidance of total revenue growth within the 0% to 2% range at constant currency and constant resin.

Meanwhile, Berenberg cut its price target for Barry Callebaut (BARN.SW) to 1,268 francs from 1,487 francs, with the stock's hold rating unchanged, following the Swiss chocolate and cocoa products group's fiscal 2026 EBIT guidance downgrade amid a disruption in cocoa bean prices.

"The company is now guiding to a mid-teen decrease in EBIT, which reflects considerably less optimistic expectations relative to guidance reiterated as part of its Q1 2026 results, which estimated low- to mid-single-digit growth in EBIT. While volume guidance was upgraded slightly, we expect subdued volume trends to persist until there is a meaningful inflection in downstream chocolate sales," the research firm said. Barry Callebaut was up 1.53%.

Elsewhere and in economic news, the European Central Bank's latest Consumer Expectations Survey showed that median expectations for inflation in the next 12 months rose to 4% in March from 2.5% a month before. The estimate for the next three years also increased to 3% from 2.5%, while the expectation for five years ahead ticked up to 2.4% from 2.3%.

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