The Dax posted a significant gain as the trading week concluded. At the close of Xetra trading, the index reached 25,099 points, marking an increase of 1.4 percent compared to the previous day’s closing figure. After a positive start, the Dax climbed until midday, stabilized at that level, and continued to rise shortly before the market closed.
Despite these increases, Andreas Lipkow, Chief Market Analyst at CMC Markets, noted that investors had not fully embraced this bullish sentiment. He pointed out that many companies are continuing to report strong quarterly results, leading to sustained buying interest.
SAP was singled out as a standout performer. According to Lipkow, the company’s cloud business remains its primary growth engine, expanding rapidly. He suggested that technology giants, similar to US competitor ServiceNow, might emerge as infrastructure beneficiaries from the AI boom. Consequently, the extremely pessimistic sentiment that preceded the company’s figures was dispelled, and the analyst detected no negative impact from Artificial Intelligence on SAP’s business. In contrast, Volkswagen continues to struggle with the burden of restructuring while simultaneously facing declining sales, Lipkow commented. However, Münchener Rück reported preliminary figures better than anticipated, with its surplus development surpassing analyst expectations.
Furthermore, the economic picture in Germany has recently improved. This positive trend was confirmed today by Purchasing Managers’ Indices (PMI) across both the service and manufacturing sectors. Lipkow explained that the PMI for the manufacturing industry improved to 52 points in July, exceeding the forecast of 50.4 points. Similarly, the services sector is currently operating within the expansion zone, with its PMI standing at 51.6 points, which was higher than the 49 points analysts had expected.
Leading the stock performance on the day, SAP shares maintained a significant lead over the Dax index, followed by Siemens Healthineers and Scout24. Infineon and Volkswagen finished at the bottom of the chart.
On the commodity front, gas prices saw an increase. A megawatt-hour (MWh) of gas scheduled for August delivery cost 63 Euros, marking a two percent rise from the previous day. Should this price level remain stable, it implies a consumer price of roughly 11 to 13 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), inclusive of ancillary costs and taxes. Conversely, oil prices dropped sharply. A barrel of North Sea Brent crude cost $95.92 on Friday afternoon around 5 PM German time, representing a decrease of 4.7 percent, or 477 cents, compared to the previous trading day’s close. Europan currency strengthened slightly on Friday afternoon; the Euro was trading at $1.1386, while the dollar exchanged for 0.8783 Euros.
