FRANKFURT/PARIS/MILAN/LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Defense contractors met with widespread buying interest across Europe on Thursday. News from the Middle East bolstered sentiment in the sector. In the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. and Iran engaged in renewed reciprocal attacks despite an existing ceasefire and ongoing negotiations to end the conflict.
In the Dax, Rheinmetall led the gainers with a 4.6 percent advance. The shares thus continued their recovery from the mid-May low, their weakest level since April of last year. The group announced an order for more than 2,000 military transport vehicles valued at approximately one billion euros. Furthermore, analysts at Deutsche Bank Research noted that Rheinmetall CFO Klaus Neumann, speaking at the firm's 'European Champions Conference', sees the company well on track to meet its annual targets.
For 2026, however, the former high-flyer still shows a price decline of over 17 percent. Due to the increasing importance of drones, concerns have emerged in recent months regarding the Dax-listed group's product portfolio, which currently consists primarily of wheeled and tracked vehicles, as well as weapon systems and ammunition.
Industry peers in the German second and third-tier indices, all of which have outperformed Rheinmetall since the start of the year, were also in demand on Thursday. TKMS, Renk, and Hensoldt took the top spots in the MDax with price gains of up to 8.3 percent.
Specialty chemicals group Alzchem, which produces the explosive nitroguanidine among other products, was among the top performers in the small-cap SDax index, rising 4.4 percent.
In Paris, Thales shares were also sought after, gaining 2.4 percent. Leonardo in Milan and BAE Systems in London climbed 3.8 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively./gl/err/jha/
