FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The shares of the chemicals and pharmaceuticals group Merck KGaA held up well on Thursday in a weak stock market environment. Following the publication of detailed quarterly figures, they rose by 1.3 percent to just under 168 euros and reached their highest level since mid-June.

Analyst Matthew Weston from UBS bank identified signals pointing to a recovery in the Life Science division. Incoming orders had risen here. Richard Vosser from JPMorgan took a similar view, seeing the increase in incoming orders in this division compared to the first quarter as a reason for confidence./bek/jha/