Ahead of the Pentecost long weekend, a significant surge in trading enthusiasm was observed on German stock exchanges, resulting in a notable increase for the Dax. As Xetra closed trading, the index stood at 24,889 points in the Frankfurt stock exchange hall-a 1.2 percent rise from Thursday afternoon. However, traders should note that there will be no extended break, as the markets will remain open on Monday despite the public holiday.
The rally in Germany was strongly supported by developments in the US markets, which also gained ground at the start of the afternoon trading session in Germany and, in some cases, reached new record highs. US President Donald Trump celebrated a “New Stock Marked Record” on his Truth Social platform shortly after 7 AM US Eastern Time during pre-market trading.
Within Germany, Infineon shares were particularly in demand on Friday, rocketing over eight percent before the market close. This strong interest remained despite the news that Infineon intends not to build any new factories for the time being. Other stocks that saw strong performance included Deutsche Post and Symrise, both climbing by approximately four percent during the session.
On the downside, the worst-performing stocks were not experiencing sharp losses. This is partly because they were traded ex-dividend, meaning investors received a distribution over the night. Nevertheless, Vonovia shares dipped by over five percent before the end of Xetra trading, and two shares of Fresenius were traded down by about three percent.
In currency markets, the European community currency saw a slight weakening on Friday afternoon. The Euro traded at 1.1602 US dollars, while the Dollar was valued at 0.8619 Euros.
