The German DAX index concluded the week sharply higher, reaching 24,635 points at the end of Xetra trading. This represents a gain of 1.8 percent compared to the previous day’s closing value. After a very positive start to the day, the DAX managed to maintain stability within positive territory.
Amid the stock market activity, Andreas Lipkow, Chief Market Analyst at CMC Markets, made comments regarding the recent SpaceX IPO. He noted that despite the latest shifts in the Iran conflict over the past 24 hours and its implications for the economy and inflation, the focus today was on other topics. Lipkow stated that pre-IPO demand for the shares was enormous, with consortium banks reporting an oversubscription of two to four times. He added that private demand alone was estimated at $100 billion, exceeding the official placement volume of $75 billion. Furthermore, institutional investors were naturally highly interested because SpaceX’s shares will be immediately included in major US stock indices through accelerated approval processes, forcing numerous ETFs and funds that passively track these indices to purchase the company’s stock.
In separate market news, gas prices saw a significant drop, with a megawatt-hour (MWh) of gas for delivery in July costing €47. This marks a six percent decrease from the previous day. If this price level remains stable, it implies a consumer price of at least around nine to eleven cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), including ancillary costs and taxes.
Oil prices also declined sharply. On Friday afternoon around 5 PM German time, a barrel of North Sea Brent crude cost $86.97, which was 341 cents, or 3.8 percent, less than the closing price of the previous trading day.
The European common currency held slightly stronger on Friday afternoon; the euro was priced at $1.1582, meaning the dollar could be acquired for 0.8634 euros. Gold prices experienced a slight rise, settling at $4,220 per fine ounce in the afternoon, a gain of 0.1 percent. This translates to a price of €117.14 per gram.
