The DAX stayed direction‑searching on Tuesday until midday. At roughly 12:30 p.m. Central European Time the index settled at about 24,830 points, a gain of 0.1 % from the previous trading day. In the top tier of stocks were Vonovia, Bayer and Zalando, while the lowest are listed at the bottom: Qiagen, Rheinmetall and Daimler Truck.
Morning releases of the ZEW economic expectations for October offered little impetus. “In February the ZEW balance of expectations slipped slightly against forecasts, and the consensus view was noticeably below”. Ulrich Wortberg of Helaba said that was surprising after the similarly structured Sentix investor‑confidence gauge had risen markedly. “While the ZEW balance of outlook has improved, the recovery of the economic trend still looks uneven”. Investors should watch the PMI releases from Friday and the Ifo business‑climate survey scheduled for Monday for further clues.
The euro weakened against the dollar by lunchtime. One euro was worth 1.1842 USD, or conversely one USD was 0.8445 EUR.
Oil prices moved modestly higher. Around noon Central European Time a barrel of North Sea Brent fetched 68.75 USD – a 10‑cent, or 0.2 % rise, over the previous day’s close.