FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The DAX started the new stock market year with fresh momentum on Thursday. The hurdle of 20,000 points has been cleared again. However, gloomy economic data from China put the brakes on trading for long stretches. Sentiment in the manufacturing sector there deteriorated significantly in December.
Ultimately, the Borsen barometer closed the day at a high, up 0.58% to 20,024.66 points. Slight support came from a friendly start to trading in the USA. However, turnover in Germany remained thin. More meaningful prices will probably only be available in a few days when investors return to the markets in greater numbers.
The DAX is still around 500 points short of its record high of just over 20,500 points in mid-December. However, it closed 2024 with a gain of just under 19%. As the first days and weeks of a new stock market year are usually accompanied by optimism and capital inflows, as market observer Jürgen Molnar from broker Robomarkets writes, the leading index certainly has further potential.
The MDax ended the day up 0.51 percent at 25,718.85 points. According to Molnar, 2025 could be the time for second- and third-tier companies. He expects political tailwind from Berlin and therefore sees "a lot of catch-up potential" in the back rows. After all, 2024 was a bad year for the mid-cap index, as it was for the small-cap index SDax. Both had fallen over the year.
Airbus topped the Dax with a plus of 3.7 percent. Analysts are expecting strong delivery figures in December. However, the aircraft manufacturer's own annual target of 770 aircraft deliveries will be narrowly missed, according to sources.
Shares in car manufacturers fell particularly sharply on the DAX. BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen lost between 1.1 and 1.9 percent. Strong sales figures from Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers had a negative impact. In particular, "BYD went full throttle at the end of 2024", as the experts of the "Bernecker-Daily" wrote.
The shares of consumer goods and adhesives manufacturer Henkel also fell by 1.8 percent. The manufacturer of industrial adhesives from the USA missed analysts' average estimates with its lowered forecasts for adjusted annual earnings per share (EPS) and operating profit (EBITDA).
Hellofresh led the MDax with a plus of 8.0 percent. According to Borsenbrief author Hans Bernecker, the share price was further boosted by the fact that the cooking box supplier wants to enter the domain of fast food and frozen food providers with new quick meals. Mutares jumped 12.1 percent in the SDax. The investment company continued a series of takeovers with the purchase of Spanish industrial services provider Nervión.
The EuroStoxx 50 gained 0.45 percent to 4,917.88 points, while the FTSE 100 in the UK rose by just over one percent. In Switzerland, the stock exchange remained closed. In the USA, the Dow Jones Industrial rose by 0.2 percent, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq indices rose somewhat more sharply.
The euro fell and traded at 1.0260 US dollars in the evening. The European Central Bank set the reference rate at 1.0321 (Tuesday: 1.0389) dollars. The dollar thus cost 0.9688 (0.9625) euros.
On the bond market, the current yield fell from 2.31 percent on Monday to 2.29 percent. The bond index Rex rose by 0.19 percent to 126.13 points. The Bund future recently fell by 0.08 percent to 133.18 points./ck/he
--- By Claudia Müller, dpa-AFX ---