30 p..m. local time-up 0.2 % from the previous Friday’s close.
Commerzbank led the gains, buoyed by Unicredit’s takeover bid; Bayer, Heidelberg Materials and Rheinmetall also advanced. On the downside, Scout24, Zalando and Brenntag fell.
Andreas Lipkow, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said that trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange remains nervous and highly sensitive to the elevated oil prices. Investors are uncertain about how these developments will impact individual sectors.
Lipkow added that Friday’s large expirations on the derivatives market will prompt many investors to decide whether to carry on holding stocks and roll their hedges past expiry or to reduce net positions to cut risk. Although the market has been relatively calm so far because many have hedged, Friday could bring a shake‑up.
He warned that the cyclical industries-especially chemicals, aerospace and automotive-may see significant brake lights in upcoming quarterly earnings. Whether continued exposure to these sectors is justified remains an open question.
In currency markets the euro strengthened in the afternoon, trading at $1.1478 per euro, or €0.8712 per dollar.
Gold slipped a touch; the price of a fine ounce was $5,021, down 0.1 %, equating to €140.65 per gram.
Brent crude fell as well; a barrel of North Sea Brent sold at $102.80 at 12 p.m. German time, down 33 cents or 0.3 % from the previous day’s close.