With Medacta, Alcon, Stadler – one of the largest European IPOs of the year –, Aluflexpack, SoftwareONE, Achiko Limited and Novavest Real Estate, SIX was proud to welcome seven new companies to the Swiss Stock Exchange in 2019. At CHF 3.1 billion overall, the transaction volume was the fourth largest on a European exchange, showing that SIX provides access to an attractive capital market for international companies of various sizes from different sectors. Additional capital of over CHF 71 billion was raised through bonds.
Trading Volumes Growing Across All Segments
Following the EU’s decision on equivalence, trading in Swiss shares was consolidated without any difficulty from July 2019 and the highly efficient infrastructure provided by SIX was able to process the additional volume smoothly.
Overall trading turnover on the Swiss Stock Exchange increased by +8.5% compared to 2018, reaching CHF 1,477.1 billion. In the biggest segment, equities (including funds & ETPs), turnover increased by +6.0% to CHF 1,174.9 billion. As in the previous year, the security with the highest trading turnover on the Swiss Stock Exchange was NESTLE N at CHF 134.8 billion.
New All-Time High for ETFs
In the ETF segment trading turnover rose by +24.0% to CHF 124.7 billion, reaching a new all-time high; the previous record stood at CHF 116.4 bn (2017). In CHF bonds, turnover remained stable (+0.1%) and reached CHF 120.8 billion, while Non-CHF bonds saw a remarkable increase of +131.9% to reach CHF 39.0 billion. The structured products and warrants segment saw the third-highest growth rate of trading volumes, increasing by +18.0% to CHF 17.8 billion.
In products with crypto currencies as underlyings, CHF 518.2 mn were traded in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 17%. The product with the highest turnover, ZXBTAV, has Bitcoin as an underlying and recorded a turnover of CHF 284.4 million, corresponding to an increase of 79% compared to 2018.
More Choice for Investors
New listings in the ETF segment reached a total of 186 in 2019. This meant that 1'541 ETFs from 25 issuers were tradeable at the end of the year. The bonds segment saw 358 new listings (+15.1%), with a total of 42'401 in the structured products segment (+7.8%). The number of traded products with crypto currencies as underlyings increased by 29 to 94. As per the end of 2019, these products provided investors with access to seven crypto currencies and several currency baskets.
Increased trading activity
Overall, the number of trades on the Swiss Stock Exchange rose as well, climbing by +6.1% to a total of 64'008'204 transactions. This number breaks down as follows 62'090'406 trades in equities (+6.6%), 1'040'183 trades in ETFs (-2.3%), 321'479 trades in CHF Bonds (-8.7%), 20'756 trades in non-CHF Bonds (+39.3%) and 535'380 trades in structured products & warrants (-13.3%). In products with crypto currencies as underlyings, 19'636 transactions were carried out, an increase of 21% over 2018. NOVARTIS N was the most traded single security in 2019 with 3'497'367 transactions.
Record Levels Reached by SMI®
The performance of the leading equity indices in 2019 was as follows: the blue chip SMI® index stood at 10'616.9 points as at the end of December, an increase of +26.0% versus the end of 2018. On 27 December 2019, the SMI closed at a new all-time high of 10'755.7 points. At the end of the year, the SLI Swiss Leader Index® closed at 1'633.1 points (+26.0%) and the broader-based SPI® at 12'837.5 points (+30.6%). The leading bond index SBI® AAA-BBB Total Return reached 140.7 points (+3.1%). The highest increase was recorded by the SXI LIFE SCIENCES® TR which climbed +34.7% to 5'574.7 points.
New standards established
In 2019, Deal Pool established itself as the centralized, electronic platform for the issue of new bonds in Switzerland. Deal Pool was launched by SIX in collaboration with leading banks and used for the first time in December 2018. Currently, the platform is used by 21 syndicate banks and 761 institutional investors. In the last year, 223 bonds with a volume of CHF 49.0 billion were issued via Deal Pool, which equates to 98.7% of all issues in the Swiss primary market for bonds that can be replicated via Deal Pool. SwissAtMid, the liquidity pool for trading Swiss equities on the Swiss Stock Exchange without pre-trading transparency operated by SIX, has also consolidated its position.