The DAX continued to decline on Tuesday, slipping into the red by mid‑day after an already very weak start to the session.
At around 12:30 p.m. German time the index stood at 23,690 points, a drop of 3.8 % from the previous day’s closing level. The best performers in the index that morning were Deutsche Börse, FMC, and Qiagen, while the poorest were Beiersdorf, Siemens, and Siemens Energy.
“The DAX reacts almost minute‑to‑minute to events in the Middle East and is accelerating its slide below the 24,000‑point mark” said Andreas Lipkow, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. He added that the weaker‑than‑expected quarterly results from Beiersdorf weighed on the entire consumer sector. “Beiersdorf is hurting especially because of the repositioning of its Nivea brand and the poor operating performance” Lipkow noted.
He warned that overall market volatility is likely to remain high, as investors around the globe continue to shift into risk‑off territory, particularly in energy‑dependent Europe.
At mid‑day the euro slipped against the dollar. One euro was worth 1.1586 USD, while one USD translated to 0.8631 EUR.
Oil prices rose sharply. Around noon German time a barrel of North Sea Brent fetched $84.19, an increase of 8.3 % over the previous day’s closing price.