30 p..m. German time-a rise of 0.2 % above Friday’s closing level. The market leader remained Commerzbank, which benefited from Unicredit’s takeover bid; shares of Bayer, Heidelberg Materials and Rheinmetall also posted gains. In contrast, Scout24, Zalando and Brenntag slipped to the lower end of the list.
CMC Markets’ chief market analyst Andreas Lipkow said the Frankfurt exchange remained nervous and still felt dragged by high oil prices. “Investors cannot yet gauge how sharply the effects will hit each sector” he added. He also warned that the looming final settlement date in the futures markets on Friday forces many to decide whether to roll their hedges or trim positions to reduce risk. While the situation had been relatively calm so far-since many had hedged-Friday will likely change the landscape.
Lipkow further noted that cyclically sensitive sectors such as chemicals, aviation and automotive may show significant braking marks in upcoming quarters, raising the question of whether it makes sense to continue investing in these areas.
On the currency front, the euro strengthened in the afternoon, trading at 1.1478 U.S. dollars, while the dollar was worth 0.8712 euros. Gold slipped slightly, falling to 5,021 U.S. dollars per troy ounce (−0.1 %), which equates to 140.65 euros per gram. Meanwhile, Brent crude dropped to 102.80 U.S. dollars per barrel at around 12:00 p.m. German time, 33 cents-or 0.3 %-below its previous closing price.
