Switzerland's Blue-chip Index Closes Little Changed; Novartis, PolyPeptide Group Shares Down

11:51 AM EST, 11/02/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The Swiss Market Index kicked off the new trading week little changed, closing 0.05% lower on Monday, amid a busy day of private sector and economic data releases at home and abroad. Switzerland's manufacturing PMI rose to 56.7 in October from 55.3 in September, marking the eighth straight month the index came in above the growth threshold of 50, according to procure.ch and UBS data. On the retail side, data from the Federal Statistical Office showed that seasonally adjusted retail sales in Switzerland declined 0.7% month over month in real terms in September, following a revised 0.6% gain in August. On the jobs front, the KOF employment indicator decreased to 2 points in the fourth quarter from the upwardly revised 2.3 points in the prior quarter, remaining above its long-term average of 1.7 points. "This decline is primarily attributable to firms' assessment of their current staffing levels. On balance, more companies still intend to increase their workforce over the next three months than those looking to reduce it. Momentum in the Swiss labour market therefore remains solid," KOF Swiss Economic Institute said. In corporate news, Deutsche Bank Research downgraded its rating on Novartis (NOVN.SW) to sell from hold and reduced the price target to 115 francs from 120 francs, following the Swiss pharmaceuticals major's third-quarter results. The stock concluded the trading session 1.69% in the red. "We provide updates after a somewhat mixed Q3, in our opinion, that was nonetheless met with a warm market response and has seen the stock melt up since, partly on the macro flight to 'pharma safety' in recent days, but also partly on the consensus assumption that imminent events will be small positives (i.e. remi P3 in HS, CMD) and there is little risk into year end," the research firm said. "All that may be true, but with the stock now having more than retraced losses since the misses on pelacarsen and del desiran, it is starting to look a little incongruous." Meanwhile, the provisional end result of Samsung Biologics' public tender offer for PolyPeptide Group (PPGN.SW) showed that 97.98% of all targeted shares were tendered at the end of the extended acceptance period for its takeover bid for the Swiss contract development and manufacturing organization. Samsung Biologics, via its Samsung Peptide subsidiary, is planning a squeeze-out process for the remaining shares yet to be tendered. At closing, PolyPeptide Group's shares were down 1.55%.