FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) – On the day of the inauguration of the new US President Donald Trump, the German stock market rose to new heights. On Monday, the leading index DAX reached a record high of 20,931 points in the first few minutes of trading for the fourth trading day in a row. After that, hardly anything happened; in the early afternoon the Dax was basically standing still at 20,900 points.
The Republican Trump takes over the presidency in Washington from the Democratic incumbent Joe Biden. In the USA, the stock exchanges are currently closed due to “Martin Luther King Day”, which may also explain the lethargic trading on the German market.
“The inauguration of President Trump is a critical moment for Europe,” wrote Mathieu Savary of BCA Research. Because Europe would be severely affected by a possible trade war. “However, uncertainty is the real pain factor,” said the market strategist. If Europe and the USA find a basis for a “deal” that is acceptable to both sides, this uncertainty should disappear again.
In the second row of German stock exchanges, the MDAX was down 0.2 percent on Monday at 25,788 points. The EuroStoxx 50 as a stock market barometer for the Eurozone gave in slightly.
Siemens Energy shares lost 3.5 percent at the end of the Dax. The bank UBS now sees everything positive in the price of last year’s biggest DAX winner and therefore advises selling.
In order to prevent a possible takeover by the major Italian bank UniCredit, Commerzbank is also considering cutting thousands of jobs, according to a report in the Financial Times. Commerzbank shares were the biggest DAX winners, up 2.4 percent.
At the chemical company LANXESS, customers brought forward purchases at the end of last year, which gave the company an operating profit that exceeded expectations. Lanxess shares rose by 6 percent and supported other chemical stocks such as BASF and Evonik.
Business figures from the operator of financial platforms Hypoport (Hypoport SE) were well received on the market. The shares were clearly at the top of the MDax with a gain of 9.2 percent. A negative comment from Bank of America about Delivery Hero pushed the shares to the bottom of the MDax at minus 2.7 percent.
Traders also identified technical reasons for the price rally of Heidelberger Druck (Heidelberger Druckmaschinen) shares by almost 10 percent. The papers would have overcome resistance at just over one euro.
On the foreign exchange market, the euro rose to 1.0317 US dollars. On the bond market, the Bund future fell by 0.17 percent to 131.56 points. The Rex bond index (REX total price index) lost 0.10 percent to 125.12 points. In return, the current yield rose from 2.45 percent on Friday to 2.46 percent./bek/jha/
— By Benjamin Krieger, dpa-AFX —