The DAX maintained a lack of clear direction even through noon on Monday. By approximately 12:30 PM, the benchmark index was calculated at around 25,195 points, representing a 0.2 percent decrease from Friday’s closing level.
According to Andreas Lipkow, Chief Market Analyst at CMC Markets, investors are still heavily influenced by developments in the European government bond markets and elevated energy prices. He noted that this combination is particularly detrimental to equity markets and limits the potential for significant further gains in the coming trading weeks.
Despite that, the fact that overall European service sector purchasing managers’ indices remained within the acceptable range or even showed slight improvements offered little relief. Lipkow explained that these indicators are all in the expansion zone (above 50), signalling continued, albeit weak, growth. He pointed out that the current week features few significant indicators, and many Asian market participants are absent due to the Golden Week holiday in China. Consequently, the focus remains firmly on energy prices and bond yields, and he concluded that an improvement is not currently anticipated.
In currency markets, the Euro weakened on Monday afternoon, trading at 1.1207 US dollars, while the dollar was priced at 0.8923 euros.
Meanwhile, gold managed to benefit, rising 0.4 percent in the afternoon, with prices reaching 4,158 US dollars per fine ounce, equivalent to 119.29 euros per gram.
Oil prices saw a distinct rise. The North Sea Brent crude traded at 102.50 US dollars around noon German time on Monday afternoon, up 24 cents, or 0.2 percent, compared to the previous day’s close.
