The German market opened Thursday morning in the red. At about 9:30 a.m., the DAX settled at roughly 22,710 points, down 1.1 percent from the previous close. The top of the performance list featured Brenntag, Henkel and Heidelberg Materials, while Siemens Energy, Porsche Holding and Von Vöhe finished at the bottom.
Consorsbank’s chief market analyst, Jochen Stanzl, said, “Investors are again counting the hours until the deadline set by the US president”. He added that no one can confidently gauge how well the negotiations are progressing or how likely a deal is. “Where uncertainty reigns, falling share prices on the exchange are often not severe”.
Stanzl went on to speculate that the U.S. government may extend the ultimatum once more to allow diplomatic talks with Iran over the weekend. “Since the war began, we have seen a clear pattern in investor behaviour: buying occurs mid‑week, while selling spikes on Fridays and Mondays” he observed. This pattern could recur, meaning “it is unlikely that significant positions will be built before the weekend”.
The euro was slightly weaker on Thursday morning. One euro was worth 1.1549 U.S. dollars, and one U.S. dollar was equivalent to 0.8659 euro.
Meanwhile, oil prices rose again. At around 9 a.m. German time, a barrel of North Sea Brent traded at $104.80-about 2.5 percent higher than the closing price the previous day.