The DAX moved into the green sector by mid‑afternoon after a sluggish opening. At about 12:30 p.m., the index stood at 23,650 points, up 0.1 % from the previous day’s closing level. Zalando, RWE, and Symrise topped the top‑gainer list, while Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, and Continental fell to the bottom.
“Investors are focusing intensely on a handful of bright spots today, especially on the micro‑economic side” said Andreas Lipkow, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. “Thus, Zalando and Hannover Re can still turn the corner for gains after presenting positive corporate results”.
Lipkow added that investors remain cautious on banking stocks due to additional large outflows from the private‑equity sector, creating liquidity strains. This raises credit risks in corporate financing and negatively impacts the banks.
According to Lipkow, investors still largely bet on a swift end to the Iran conflict and view the high oil prices as a temporary phenomenon. “The large hedging positions built before the Iran war are also helpful right now, as they absorb a significant portion of potential price declines” he said.
The upcoming week’s major expiry dates on futures exchanges become all the more intriguing. “Many investors, despite all the negative events, have still remained in the comfort zone, either moving to safe havens or hedging” Lipkow noted. It remains to be seen how long this situation will hold and what further risks will confront investors.
The euro was slightly stronger at Thursday noon: one euro cost 1.1561 U.S. dollars, meaning one dollar was priced at 0.8650 euros.
Oil prices continued to climb sharply. A barrel of North Sea‑grade Brent traded at roughly 97.15 U.S. dollars around 12:00 p.m. German time, an increase of 5.6 % from the previous day’s closing price.