Swiss cement manufacturer Holcim is selling its stake in Nigeria-based Lafarge Africa PLC to Chinese cement manufacturer Huaxin Cement. Huaxin Cement will take over Holcim's 83.81% stake. The sale, valued at one billion on a 100% share basis, is due to be completed in 2025, Holcim indicated in a press release on Sunday. Lafarge Africa PLC, which specialises in the production and marketing of cement, has until now been majority-controlled by the Holcim group.

The Swiss stock market lagged behind the European stock markets on Friday. The SMI gained 0.5 per cent to 11,764 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 15 price gainers and five price losers. A total of 19.83 (previously: 10.6) million shares were traded. Nestlé and Novartis shed 0.2 and 0.1 per cent respectively. The defensive Swisscom was also among the laggards with losses of 0.3 per cent. Meanwhile, Roche (+0.6 per cent) was supported by an upgrade from Intron Health. Richemont climbed 1.2 per cent. The luxury goods manufacturer announced new CEOs at the watch brand Jaeger-LeCoultre and at Vacheron Constantin. A lack of corporate news prompted analysts to boost share prices: ABB, for example, climbed 1.6 per cent following an upgrade by Bank of America. Kepler raised its rating and target price for Geberit (+1%). Among small caps, the capital increase at Peach Property (-33.2%) got underway and the major shareholder OEP converted its mandatory convertible bond at Cicor (+1.7%). OEP will now hold 41.01 per cent of Cicor and is therefore obliged to submit a takeover bid within two months.

Europe
The European stock markets closed higher on Friday after a lacklustre session, while trading was cut short in New York for Black Friday. The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.6% to 510.3 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and SBF 120 rose by 0.8% and 0.7% respectively. The DAX 40 in Frankfurt added 1% and the FTSE 100 in London climbed 0.1%. Meal voucher specialist Pluxee (+1.2%) announced on Friday that it had signed an agreement to acquire 100% of Beneficio Facil, a company specialising in employee mobility benefits in Brazil. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed. Elior increased by 5.9% after JPMorgan raised its recommendation on the group from ‘neutral’ to ‘overweight’. The bank believes that the stock offers a favourable risk/return profile. The Board of Directors of Saint-Gobain (+0.3%) will propose to the General Meeting of Shareholders on 5 June 2025 that Benoit Bazin be reappointed as a director, with the aim of reappointing him as CEO. Delivery Hero gained 2.0 per cent. The IPO price for the shares of Delivery Hero subsidiary Talabat has been set at 1.60 UAE dirhams, at the upper end of the range of 1.50 to 1.60 UAE dirhams. From a stock market perspective, however, this came as no surprise. Delivery Hero had recently increased the issue volume to 20 per cent from 15 per cent, a clear indication of good investor demand. The Talabat shares are to be traded in Dubai for the first time on 10 December.

United States
U.S. stocks posted their biggest monthly gains this year in November, as chip stocks rallied on Friday. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose modestly to close at records in a holiday-shortened session, with the Dow finishing just underneath the 45000-point milestone. Semiconductor stocks, such as the equipment makers Applied Materials and Lam Research and chip maker Nvidia, advanced. A Bloomberg report that the Biden administration’s new planned curbs on industry sales to China would be less severe than previously anticipated had boosted some international chip stocks Thursday. The toy maker Hasbro gained 2% after Elon Musk ignited takeover speculation by asking on X how much the company is worth. The Dow and S&P 500 delivered their biggest monthly percentage gain of 2024, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The small-cap Russell 2000 climbed, lifting its monthly gains to around 11%. Donald Trump’s U.S. election victory this month ignited a market rally as investors bet proposed tax cuts and deregulation would bolster corporate profits. His pledges to impose tariffs on key trading partners have been largely brushed off by equity traders, though some areas such as auto stocks have taken a hit. Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed up Friday in a broad based rally, while bitcoin resumed its march toward the $100,000 milestone, trading above $97,000. December has been a seasonally strong month for stocks historically, and investors are hoping for more of the same to close out a year that has already seen the S&P 500 rise 26%.

Asia
The stock markets in East Asia and Australia performed well on Monday. The stock market on the Chinese mainland recorded significant price gains. The Shanghai Composite increased by 0.9 per cent. In Hong Kong, meanwhile, the Hang Seng Index is little changed. Sentiment is supported by new economic data from China. In Seoul, the Kospi recovered from slight losses and is now trading up 0.3 per cent. The Tokyo stock exchange is also moving upwards. The Nikkei-225 climbed 0.6 per cent. In Sydney, the index rises by 0.1 per cent.

Bonds
Treasury yields fell Friday as the market re-opened for an abbreviated session following the U.S. Thanksgiving break. The 10-year Treasury note yield dropped by 5 basis points (0.5 percentage points) to 4.19%. The 2-year Treasury note yield shed 3 basis points to 4.18%. On Friday, derivatives traders were pricing in a roughly two thirds chance that the Fed will cut interest rates by a quarter point again in December, according to CME Group. They then see the central bank holding rates steady at its January meeting.

Analysis
UBS lowers Comet to CHF 340 (345) - Buy
Kepler raises Geberit to Buy (Hold)/CHF 630 (560) - Trader
UBS downgrades VAT to CHF 370 (430) - Neutral

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