Frankfurt's stock exchange. - Despite a letdown in the Ifo index, DAX approaches a new record.
DAX climbed by 0.44% to 18,774.71 points in trading this time. MDAX, which consists of medium-sized German values, also saw an increase of 0.58% to land at 27,281.48 points.
German economy's mood showed no unexpected improvement in May, having increased for three consecutive months. Christian Lips, Chief Economist at NordLB expressed his views by saying, "The economy's trees haven't grown to the sky yet - not yet, at least." Though he believes that improvements are happening, Lips cautions against overoptimism. For him, the DAX represents the general sentiment towards the economy.
Lips also mentioned that despite the cloudy business conditions, there's no significant hurdle for the European Central Bank's projected interest rate cut in June. Uncertainty about the central banks' future policy decisions had put a stop to the record rise in the DAX, which peaked at 18,892 points in mid-May.
There were limited company-related news updates. The automobile sector acted as a support for the DAX. Shares of Porsche AG, which were up by 2.8%, took the leading position in the index and recovered from their lowest point since mid-March. Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW also ended up with higher share values.
In the MDAX index, demand for Wacker Chemie was observed. This company, which had a poor performance so far this year, reached its lowest point since February only last Friday. Though its shares experienced a recovery of 4.3% on Monday, its annual performance is still negative with over 7%.
Ionos, belonging to the SDAX side index, experienced a setback due to profit taking. The shares of the web hoster fell by 5.5%, as analyst George Webb withdrew his optimistic stance. Now he sees the chances and risks as neutrally balanced.
The Eurozone's benchmark index, EuroStoxx 50, gained 0.47% to 5059.20 points. Similar high gains were seen for the CAC 40, Paris' benchmark index. However, no trading was held in London on account of the "Spring Bank Holiday," and in New York the market was inactive because of the "Memorial Day" celebrations.
Minimal changes were noted in the foreign exchange market. The euro was valued at $1.0859 in the afternoon. The ECB had set the reference rate at $1.0840 on Friday.
At the bond market, trading activity increased from 2.64% on Friday to 2.66%. The bond index REX dipped by 0.06% to hit 123.74 points. The Bund future experienced a 0.18% rise to reach 130.34 ticks.
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Source: www.stern.de
