As of Monday, shares in big-name Swiss companies including Nestle and Zurich Insurance cannot be traded on EU stock exchanges without permission after talks to resolve a dispute between Brussels and Bern collapsed. The EU is refusing to recognise the Swiss stock market’s rules as “equivalent” to its own after an agreement between the two sides expired over the weekend with no deal in place over how future trade relations should continue. The previous arrangement saw Swiss bourses have free access to the larger EU market thanks to their special status. Switzerland retaliated by banning almost 300 shares in Swiss companies from being traded at EU stock exchanges, a service which usually constitutes around a third of market volume.
The head of electronic trading at one global brokerage told Reuters: “The only consensus at the moment is confusion.
“All brokers are coming up with different answers depending on where they’re regulated, who your client is, it’s a very confusing situation.”
Despite the trading ban, European stocks were in the green this morning as investors reacted positively to a ceasefire in the trade war between Washington and Beijing.
The blue-chip Swiss Market Index .SSMI showed no major disruption and was up 1.0 percent.
The STOXX 50 index hit its highest level in 17 months and was also up 1.0 percent at the time of writing.
At the same time, the pan-European STOXX 600 index was up by 0.9 percent.
The FTSE 100 saw an increase of 1.1 percent, while the German DAX soared by 1.2 percent.
In Paris, the CAC 40 was up by 0.8 percent.
Hopes of a resolution in the long-standing US-China trade war were renewed last night when Washington said it would postpone further tariffs after both sides agreed to restart negotiations.
US President Donald Trump said talks were “back on track” after an 80-minute meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
Mr Trump said China agreed to make unspecified new purchases of US farm products and return to the negotiating table.
No deadline was set for progress on a deal.
He said: “We’re holding back on tariffs and they’re going to buy farm products.”
President Trump tweeted hours later that the meeting with Xi went “far better than expected.”
He said: “The quality of the transaction is far more important to me than speed.
“I am in no hurry, but things look very good!”