Not too much happened on the German stock market on Friday. Investors played it safe ahead of the European Central Bank meeting next week. Expectations that the ECB could soon lower interest rates are rapidly evaporating. The leading index DAX closed 0.07 lower at 16,555.13 points. The MDax of medium-sized stocks fell by 0.47 percent to 25,432.05 points.
“The financial markets are pricing in a first interest rate cut in April,” wrote economists Cyrus de la Rubia and Nils Müller from Hamburg Commercial Bank. The Euro Central Bank’s efforts to dampen this speculation are only partially successful. The timing of a first interest rate cut by the ECB remains uncertain.
On a weekly basis, the DAX’s balance sheet is negative at minus just under one percent. The index record from December of a good 17,000 points is now around 450 points away.
BASF’s surprisingly early publication of key data for the 2023 financial year was not well received. The share lost 1.4 percent and is one of the biggest losers in the Dax in the new year. Analysts criticized surprisingly weak profits in the final quarter.
The best stocks in the DAX included primarily energy stocks such as RWE, Eon and Siemens Energy with gains of up to 1.5 percent.
Chip values continued the recovery from the previous day. Infineon increased slightly. Elmos and Aixtron each gained more than 3 percent. The day before, the world’s largest chip contract manufacturer TSMC from Taiwan had brightened the industry mood with an encouraging outlook.
In the SDax, Morphosys shares fell by almost 12 percent, accelerating the decline from the day before after they had gained very strongly from Monday to Wednesday. The titles are generally very susceptible to fluctuations and are currently considered an object of speculation. The investor bets primarily revolve around a cancer drug that has not yet been approved.
Deutz shares rose by almost six percent after the sale of the boat engine subsidiary to Yamaha Motor, and the engine manufacturer expects a book profit.
Price fluctuations on Europe’s stock exchanges were limited before the weekend. The Eurozone leading index EuroStoxx 50 closed 0.09 percent lower at 4,448.83 points. In Paris, the Cac 40 fell slightly more, while London’s FTSE 100 closed little changed.
On the foreign exchange market, the euro stood still against the dollar and cost 1.0885 US dollars in the evening. The European Central Bank (ECB) had previously set the reference rate at $1.0887.
On the bond market, the current yield rose from 2.31 percent the day before to 2.32 percent. The Rex bond index remained at 125.53 points. The Bund future advanced by 0.07 percent to 134.00 points in the evening.
