Hope of interest rate cut drives up DAX
Hopes of interest rate cuts in the USA and also in the eurozone pushed the DAX above the 16,200 point mark at times on Thursday. Support also came from surprisingly strong retail sales in Germany. The year-end rally is back on track and the record high is within reach.
The leading German index rose by 0.10 percent to 16,182.50 points in early trading and was recently heading for the strongest trading month of the year. This had previously been January, with a gain of around 8.7 percent.
In contrast, the MDax of medium-sized companies fell by 0.29 percent to 26,237.56 points on Thursday. The eurozone index EuroStoxx 50 fell by 0.14 percent to 4364.47 points.
However, there is still some uncertainty among market participants, as consumer price data from the USA is due to be published in the afternoon. Data is also expected for the eurozone. Country data point to a slowdown in inflation.
Among the individual stocks, Deutsche Bank shares led the Dax with a plus of 2.6 percent. SAP benefited from the quarterly figures of its US rival Salesforce with a plus of 0.8 percent. The latter exceeded market expectations in the past quarter.
The DAX, being Germany's leading stock exchange, was positively influenced by the hope of interest rate cuts in both the USA and eurozone, reaching close to its record high. The MDAX, another index on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, however, saw a slight decrease. The Eurostoxx 50, a eurozone-wide stock exchange index, also experienced a modest decline.
Source: www.dpa.com
