Search for neutral Higgs bosons in $e^{+}e^{-}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} \leq$ 196 GeV

A preliminary search for neutral Higgs bosons is performed in the data collected by ALEPH in 1999, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 29.0 and 69.5 pb^-1 at centre-of-mass energies of 191.6 and 195.6 GeV respectively. No evidence for a signal is found. Combined with the lower energy ALEPH data, this observation leads to a 95% confidence level lower mass limit of 98.8 GeV/c^2 for the Standard Model Higgs boson. In the MSSM, the lower limit for the mass of the lightest CP-even Higgs boson h, is found to be 85.2 GeV/c^2 for all values of tan(beta)>=1.