On Friday the DAX began the trading day muted and, up until midday, failed to find a clear direction. At about 12:30 p.m. the index was calculated at approximately 25,310 points, 0.1 percent above the previous day’s closing level.
Rising stocks included Deutsche Telekom, Scout24 and Siemens Energy. In the red zone were Infineon, MTU and BASF; the chemical group recently announced a sharp drop in results and flagged another uneven year ahead, coupled with a larger cost‑cutting programme.
“Before the weekend the DAX is profiting from a mix of short covering and selective expansion into defensive stocks” said Andreas Lipkow, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. “That trend has already been visible in the past few sessions. The stocks that were losers over the week were bought back later, and this rotation has kept the DAX around the 25,000‑point level for several weeks”.
Nevertheless, the market breadth remains limited. Only about half of the constituents are in the green, and the lacking macro‑economic catalysts mean the DAX cannot lift itself out of this low‑range trap or launch a record‑breaking rally.
On the corporate side, cautious forecasts-particularly for cyclical companies-have weighed on investors. Managers are not yet pulling the trigger to go all‑in. This was evident today from BASF’s earnings presentation. Upcoming consumer‑price data for Germany could prove interesting, while earlier figures from France and Spain had somewhat cooled.
Lipkow added that the technical picture for the DAX looks overall sound and hints at a continuation of the upside if fundamentals support it. However, he warned that true record‑breaking action may have to wait until after the weekend, as today’s market is still laden with ad‑hoc risks, especially around U.S. tariffs and the Iran‑U.S. conflict.
In other markets, the euro was marginally stronger on Friday afternoon: 1 Euro equaled 1.1802 U.S. dollars, and 1 U.S. dollar converted to 0.8473 euros. Gold slipped slightly, trading around $5,174 per fine troy ounce (about €140.94 per gram). Brent crude rose noticeably, reaching $72.06 per barrel at 12:00 CET, up 1.9 percent from the prior day’s close.
