FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - At the end of a very weak week, the Dax struggled to find stability. Germany's leading index gave up initial gains of almost one percent entirely and was down 0.3 percent at 23,744 points by midday on Friday.
The Iran war remains the dominant topic on the markets, with investors reacting nervously to every news update. Although, according to US assessments, Iran's military capabilities have been significantly weakened, Tehran continues to expand the war throughout the Middle East. Recently, another sharp rise in oil prices has caused uncertainty, after Gulf state Qatar warned of severe consequences for energy commodity deliveries from the region due to the conflict in the Middle East.
The current weekly balance for the Dax is deeply negative, with a loss of just over six percent. To find a greater loss, one must look back to early April, when US President Donald Trump roiled financial markets with his tariff announcements.
"The attack on Iran, given the scale of the military operation and the generally fragile situation in the Middle East, is fraught with risks. From an economic perspective, these risks are that oil production facilities in the region could be systematically destroyed by Iran and that the transport route through the Strait of Hormuz could remain closed for a long time," wrote Ulrich Kater, chief economist at Dekabank.
According to the expert, neither risk has materialized in the days since the initial airstrikes. If the interpretation is correct that Iran and its allies in the region are not capable of a comprehensive action, then the impact on commodity and financial markets should remain relatively moderate.
The MDax of mid-sized companies was almost unchanged at 29,697 points. The Eurozone blue-chip index EuroStoxx 50 fell by 0.6 percent.
In the current environment, shares in the defense sector rebounded from their recent slump. The prospect of prolonged geopolitical conflicts is once again fueling investor interest in stocks like Rheinmetall, which gained nearly two percent.
Among other individual stocks, analyst comments are also driving movement. For example, shares of Infineon dropped five percent after UBS withdrew its buy recommendation, making it the clear laggard in the Dax. Analyst Francois-Xavier Bouvignies remains optimistic about the chipmaker in the medium term, but initially sees risks that could limit its price potential. The company's AI revenue target for 2027 leaves little room for upside, he noted.
DHL shares recovered from their significant losses the previous day. Thanks to several positive analyst comments, the stock rose by just over two percent, leading the Dax. Disruptions in the freight markets caused by the Iran war are benefiting the logistics group with its large, flexible network, wrote expert Muneeba Kayani from US investment bank Bank of America. On Thursday, the outlook, shaped by geopolitical uncertainty, had spooked investors.
As the clear laggard in the MDax, shares of Lanxess plunged nearly 14 percent on Friday. The preliminary failure of the sale of the remaining shares in the Envalior joint venture once again raised concerns among shareholders about the specialty chemicals group's financing./la/stk
--- By Lutz Alexander, dpa-AFX ---
