On Friday, the Dax remained firmly in the green throughout the day, maintaining a positive trend established earlier in the morning. The core index was calculated at approximately 26,510 points around 12:30 PM, marking an increase of 0.6 percent from the previous day’s closing level.
Andreas Lipkow, Chief Market Analyst at CMC Markets, noted that a new all-time high for the Dax is close at hand. He observed that barely 20 points were missing from the morning’s attempts. Positive sentiment emerging from New York following Nvidia’s figures is also injecting new dynamism into several Dax shares. Furthermore, profit-taking ahead of the weekend has been minimal, allowing the market’s slow but steady ascent toward an all-time high of 26,573 points to continue uninterrupted.
However, Lipkow added that reaching the final few points before the weekend may prove challenging. He also stressed the importance of Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh avoiding any disruptive commentary from Jackson Hole sent back to Frankfurt later in the day.
Meanwhile, investors in the UK are also aiming to maximize the week’s performance with the FTSE 100. Their focus is primarily on shares within cyclical industries and those with high market beta, while traditional defensive sectors are less favored, as they are not currently exhibiting strong protective characteristics. Consequently, commodity companies such as Fresnillo, Antofagasta, and Endeavour Mining are leading the gainers toward the week’s close. Lipkow anticipates that trading in the late hours before the weekend will be calmer, primarily because global technology stocks are setting the tone, and the FTSE lacks a sufficient concentration of these high-flying names.
In currency markets, the Euro weakened slightly in the afternoon, trading at 1.1642 US dollars per Euro, meaning the dollar was available for 0.8590 Euros.
Commodity prices showed mixed movements. The price of gold saw a minor increase; in the afternoon, a fine ounce traded at $4,604 (+0.1 percent), corresponding to 127.14 Euros per gram. Conversely, crude oil dipped slightly. A barrel of the Brent North Sea crude cost approximately $89.63 around noon German time, which was 7 cents or 0.1 percent less than the previous day’s close.
