Rising oil prices slowed the German stock market’s recent forward drive at the start of the second quarter. The leading German index, the Dax, closed down 0.31 percent at 15,580.92 points. In the previous week, the leading German index had increased by 4.5 percent and was close to its high for the year of just over 15,700 points. The MDax of medium-sized stocks fell on Monday by 0.78 percent to 27,446.15 points.
After the oil alliance Opec+ surprisingly announced a reduction in crude oil production, hopes that the central banks would end the interest rate hikes quickly “received a heavy dampener,” noted capital market strategist Jürgen Molnar of Robomarkets.
In the afternoon, the ISM purchasing managers’ index for industry in the USA caused a slight strain, as did the crumbling initial profits on Wall Street.
The picture across Europe was mixed: the leading eurozone index, the EuroStoxx 50, fell by 0.1 percent, while the leading indices in France and Great Britain rose moderately. In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial recently rose by around 0.7 percent, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq exchanges fell.
Individual values were primarily moved by analyst studies. The Siemens Energy share was the leader in the Dax with a plus of 4.4 percent. The US bank Morgan Stanley included it again in its rating with “Overweight” and a target price of EUR 33.20. As analyst Ben Uglow wrote, there are clear signs of an energy boom cycle in the end markets of the significantly undervalued energy technology group.
In the meantime, RWE shares rose to a five-week high, but dropped again and ended with a plus of 0.2 percent. According to Goldman Sachs, the market underestimates RWE’s medium-term organic growth potential in connection with government subsidies for alternative energies in the USA and Europe.
The euro last traded at $1.0890 after falling as low as $1.0788 in the morning session. The European Central Bank set the reference rate at $1.0870 in the afternoon. The dollar had thus cost 0.9200 (0.9195) euros.
On the bond market, the current yield fell from 2.39 percent on Friday to 2.38 percent. The Rex pension index rose by 0.09 percent to 125.90 points. The Bund future rose by 0.23 percent to 136.52 points. (dpa)