The German stock market showed robustness on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates. This marks the end of the rate hike cycle. In the meantime, the Dax made up for larger losses and was only just in the red in the afternoon at 15,209.07 points. The MDax managed to gain 0.82 percent to 27,084.64 points.
The focus was on renewed tightening of monetary policy. The US Federal Reserve had already raised its key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points the evening before, despite the recent turbulence in the banking sector. The central banks in Switzerland, Norway and Great Britain have now followed suit. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) even made an adjustment of 0.50 percentage points.
“For the time being, the US Federal Reserve will not be deterred from its restrictive course by the global turbulence in the banking sector,” said Robert Halver from Baader Bank. However, it is becoming apparent that the Fed will only raise interest rates slightly this year. “The end of the turnaround in interest rates is recognizable and after a waiting period owed to credibility, even key rate cuts seem to be only a matter of time,” says Halver.
The Baader expert believes that under these circumstances, growth stocks will gradually become more interesting for investors than the so-called value stocks, which include, for example, the auto sector, which was weaker on Thursday. The tech sector, which led the European sector table on Thursday, is traditionally seen as a symbol of growth. In the Dax, Infineon achieved a plus of 1.1 percent.
In the banking sector, on the other hand, the mood remained characterized by concerns, especially since US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen spoke out against a “blanket” deposit guarantee to stabilize the US banking system the day before. The stocks of Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank recently fell by 1.1 and 2.3 percent respectively.
Once again, stocks from the armaments sector were in demand. Rheinmetall rose by 1.9 percent at the top of the Dax, and at times even gnawed at their record. The German Ministry of Defense wants to procure more than 100 Boxer wheeled armored vehicles from the 100 billion euro special fund for the Bundeswehr. With the 4.6 percent higher Hensoldt shares, another industry value attracted positive attention.
In the second series of stock exchanges, Nemetschek rose particularly strongly with 15 percent, although the construction software manufacturer expects slower growth due to the switch to a subscription model in 2023. According to Stifel analyst Chandramouli Sriraman, however, the outlook shows that the subscription model will pay off in the coming years. Then Nemetschek expects growth to accelerate.
There was still a clearly positive reaction at Scout24 with an increase of 3.8 percent. It was well received that the online real estate marketplace paid its shareholders more dividends after strong profit growth last year.
In contrast, the shares of CTS Eventim showed clear weakness with a discount of 2.7 percent. The event marketer expects stable sales and profit development in 2023. According to traders, a small increase was expected on the market.
The pressure on the laser specialist LPKF was even greater, with a price slump of ten percent recently. For the first time since October, they fell below the 9 euro mark again. Analyst Adrian Pehl from the Stifel investment company classified the business goals as “cautious” in an initial reaction.
The euro benefited overnight from speculation about an end to the interest rate spiral in the USA. Most recently, $1.0884 was paid for the common currency, whose reference rate was set at $1.0785 by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Wednesday.
German Bund prices fell on Thursday. On the other hand, the current yield rose to 2.28 percent from 2.23 percent the previous day. While the Rex bond index rose by 0.12 percent to 125.93 points, the Bund future stagnated at 136.34 points at the previous day’s level.
