The German stock market declined on Thursday. At the close of trading on Xetra, the DAX registered 25,983 points, marking a 0.4 percent drop compared to the previous day’s close. Following a sluggish start, the DAX initially saw its losses widen before managing to reduce some of them in the afternoon session.
This downward trend is part of a broader market correction. After reaching a new record high last week, the index is currently held back by a lack of further upward momentum. Furthermore, high yields on 30-year US bonds, combined with increasing returns on German and Japanese bonds, are making fixed-interest securities more appealing than stocks at present.
In terms of individual shares, stocks from Qiagen led the gains near the end of the trading day, while Adidas shares finished at the bottom of the list.
Shifting to commodities, the price of gas rose. A megawatt-hour (MWh) of gas for delivery in September was priced at 65 euros, an increase of three percent from the day before. Should this price level remain stable, this implies a consumer cost of at least around 11 to 14 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), inclusive of taxes and auxiliary costs.
Oil prices also increased notably. An barrel of North Sea Brent grade oil cost $93.42 against the clock on Thursday afternoon, representing a 2.0 percent rise over the closing price of the previous trading day.
In foreignexchange, the European common currency strengthened slightly on Thursday afternoon. The euro was trading at $1.1682, meaning the dollar was available for 0.8560 euros.
