By mid‑morning on Monday, the German stock index had largely returned to its previous trading day’s level. At roughly 12:30 p.m. Central European Time the DAX closed at about 24,930 points, which is roughly 0.1 % higher than Friday’s finish. The stocks leading the day’s performance were Heidelberg Materials, Zalando and Deutsche Bank, while Siemens, Brenntag and Merck were at the bottom of the list.
“Investors have to find a direction in a rather indifferent market today” said Andreas Lipkow, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. “The holidays in the U.S. and Asia result in a rather thin overall trading volume”. He added that potential catalysts from macroeconomic data or corporate announcements were also scarce.
According to Lipkow, a strong day for the DAX would be achieved if it could stay within the range of 24,850 to 25,050 points. For now, the 25,000‑point mark remains a key psychological level.
At the same time the euro was a touch weaker in the middle of the day: one euro equalled 1.1864 U.S. dollars, and one U.S. dollar traded at 0.8429 euros.
Oil prices saw a modest rise. At 12:00 p.m. German time a barrel of North Sea Brent fetched $67.82, up 7 cents-or 0.1 %-from the previous closing price.