On Thursday, the DAX experienced a decline. By the close of trading on Xetra, the index registered 24,607 points, marking a drop of 0.5 percent compared to the previous day’s close. Although the DAX managed to rise by noon, it suddenly turned negative, spending the afternoon falling amidst noticeable fluctuations before partially recovering some of its losses.
In Frankfurt, the stocks of Merck and Zalando led the performance list nearing the close, while Airbus and Commerzbank significantly lagged the market.
Andreas Lipkow, Chief Market Analyst at CMC Markets, commented that “the news regarding A350 delivery issues at the DAX heavyweight Airbus somewhat roused investors from their general disregard for economic risks. While these disruptions primarily concern procedural processes within North American factories, they nonetheless reveal a fundamental problem facing many companies”.
The analyst also noted that profit-taking intensified among typical tech beneficiaries like Infineon and Siemens Energy. He explained, “The overall market has run up particularly strongly in these sectors, and a cooling period might be imminent. Given that there are no immediate new trading impulses expected from the major US technology corporations, some investors are looking to take profits before the summer”.
In other market movements, the price of gas saw a slight decrease, dropping to 49 Euros per megawatt-hour (MWh) for June delivery. If this price level persists, it implies a consumer price of at least around nine to twelve cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), inclusive of ancillary costs and taxes.
Conversely, the price of oil experienced a sharp increase. By 5 PM German time on Thursday afternoon, a barrel of North Sea Brent crude cost $107.70 USD, representing a 2.6 percent gain compared to the close of the previous trading day.
The European common currency was weaker on Thursday afternoon: the Euro traded at $1.1588 USD, meaning the US dollar fetched 0.8630 Euros.
