The German stock market index, the Dax, continued its upward trend on Tuesday after a slightly positive start leading into lunchtime. Around 12:30, the index was recorded at approximately 25,045 points, representing a gain of 0.6 percent compared to the previous trading day. Among the top performers were Gea, Siemens Energy, and Rheinmetall, while Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW were among the laggards.
Concurrently, research from the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) indicated a notable increase in the medium-term economic expectations held by financial analysts and institutional investors. However, Thomas Gitzel, Chief Economist at VP Bank, cautioned that despite positive sentiment, the overall state of the economy remains significantly subdued compared to early-year levels, ruling out any notion of economic euphoria among survey respondents.
Gitzel added that while recent reports regarding a potential framework agreement between the US and Iran might not yet be fully reflected in the current polling, the peace deal may not immediately boost indices significantly because oil prices are still trading at a relatively high level.
In global markets, the Euro strengthened slightly by midday, trading at 1.1612 US dollars, meaning the US dollar was equivalent to 0.8612 Euros. Meanwhile, crude oil prices experienced a sharp decline. At around 12:00 Central European Time, a barrel of North Sea Brent crude cost $81.14, marking a decrease of 203 cents, or 2.4 percent, from the close of the preceding trading day.
