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The prospect of more stimulus from Mario Draghi has been boosting most European stock markets. Switzerland has been lagging behind. Hurt by a strengthening franc, the Swiss Market Index has largely missed out on the rally that has added about $6 trillion to equities since the September lows of a global market rout. The potential for more monetary easing from the European Central Bank is weakening the euro, prompting investors to opt instead for assets seen benefiting from the currency’s decline. The biggest exchange-traded fund tracking the Swiss market has seen regular outflows in the last few months, while the number of bearish options has increased. “Swiss companies exporting to Europe are now finding it tougher and tougher, and China is still a headwind,” said Daniel Weston, chief investment officer of Aimed Capital in Munich. “The European purchaser is now more inclined to buy European stocks rather than Swiss.” Traders have been pulling out of Swiss stocks even as most other markets have rebounded from the summer slump. The iShares SMI ETF, the biggest tracking the nation’s equities, hasn’t seen inflows since August, while a fund following European equities just posted its biggest monthly inflows ever. The SMI is among the worst developed-market performers of this quarter, up 4.4 percent. By Roxana Zega (Bloomberg). Read more.
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