The German stock index Dax exceeded the 16,000 point mark on Thursday. At times, it was not far from its all-time high of 16,272 points from last year. Around noon, it stood at 16,226 points at times, which was the highest level in about a year and a half. Investors were apparently rather confident overall, with the good stock market performance of the previous day from the United States providing a tailwind. The euro was trading at $1.0817, its lowest level in six and a half weeks, supporting export-oriented stocks such as auto stocks.
Lower sales on the holiday
Christian Siedenbiedel
Editor in business.
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On Ascension Day, however, turnover on the stock exchanges is generally lower, which can promote price fluctuations. Commerzbank, which had presented quarterly figures on Wednesday and had only recently returned to the Dax, pulled up the German benchmark index with a price increase of more than 3 percent at times. However, she had lost quite clearly the day before. The bank started 2023 with a jump in profits. However, its outlook for the rest of the year fell short of market expectations.
Because investors took more risks again, car stocks were in demand in the Dax on Thursday, in line with the generally firm trend in Europe, with Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen in particular rising by around two percent at times. Defensive utilities such as Eon, on the other hand, were among the laggards. Shares of Siemens Energy benefited from a buy recommendation from the American Citigroup and rose by 2.1 percent. Analyst Vivek Midha now sees room for the energy technology group to improve its margins. He also sees encouraging signs with regard to the wind power subsidiary Siemens Gamesa. At the end of the Dax, the shares of the real estate group Vonovia and the healthcare company Fresenius, among others, suffered only visually high losses, they were traded ex-dividend on Thursday.
Requirements from the United States
The American benchmark index Dow Jones Industrial had risen significantly on Wednesday. Two questions from the United States are currently on the minds of the stock market: One question is how the debt ceiling for the American budget will continue and whether there could be a default in June. Here, the stock market has recently been somewhat more optimistic. President Joe Biden and Congressman Kevin McCarthy had reaffirmed their determination to reach a swift agreement to raise the debt ceiling and prevent default. The other question is what will happen to the US Federal Reserve (Fed) key interest rates. Some investors are hoping not only for a pause in interest rate hikes, but even for interest rate cuts. "The markets will not be dissuaded from the hope of lowering interest rates," writes the French investment house Ostrum Asset Management in a market report.
Meanwhile, the price of gold has apparently taken a break in its soaring performance. It is now trading below 2000 dollars per troy ounce (31.1 grams) again, after it had recently come very close to its all-time high. Two weeks ago, gold in Asian trading temporarily cost $2072.19 – not much less than the all-time high of $2072.49 set in August 2020. On Thursday, the price was temporarily quoted at 1976 dollars.