The Dax maintained positive momentum throughout the morning on Thursday, holding its gains despite a previously favorable start. The leading index was calculated at approximately 24,915 points around 12:30 PM, which represented a 0.5 percent decrease from the previous day’s closing level.
Andreas Lipkow, Chief Market Analyst at CMC Markets, noted that during the light holiday trading, market participants focused their attention on the shares of SAP, Airbus, and Scout 24. He added that investors have not abandoned cloud providers and software firms following recent performance in semiconductor stocks. While overall trading was characterized by caution, companies in the pharmaceutical and real estate sectors also performed well.
Infineon, however, was positioned last in the Dax. Lipkow attributed the poor performance of the semiconductor industry on Thursday to weak quarterly figures reported by the US company Broadcom. Furthermore, consumption restraint appears to be continuing, as retail sales in the Eurozone fell by 0.4 percent in April compared to the prior month, surpassing an expected decline of only 0.3 percent.
In foreign exchange markets, the European currency strengthened during the midday session on Thursday. A single Euro cost $1.1628, meaning a US Dollar fetched 0.8600 Euros.
Simultaneously, oil prices declined notably. A barrel of North Sea Brent crude was priced at $96.35 around 12:00 CET, reflecting a drop of 1.5 percent (146 cents) compared to the previous day’s close.
