FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Puma shares attracted keen interest from investors on Thursday. With a recent jump in price of ten percent to 52.30 euros, they recovered in one fell swoop the losses of the past five trading days. So far this year, they have been among the weakest MDax stocks. However, this year's losses were suddenly reduced to less than eight percent.

Some traders pointed to vague optimism before the end of the quarter. There were similar signals from two analysts during the day: The upcoming figures should not confirm pessimistic assumptions of investors as strongly as previously feared, wrote Jefferies analyst James Grzinic in a study. He continues to recommend the shares as a buy, even though he expects headwinds on the cost side in the second half of the year.

There was a similar voice from DZ Bank expert Thomas Maul, who believes in a renewed improvement in investor sentiment. The second quarter report should underpin that this year's financial targets are well within reach. In particular, progress in reducing inventories as well as an acceleration of growth momentum in the China business could provide positive price momentum.

On Thursday, Puma shares presented a more buoyant performance than Adidas, which rose 2.7 percent. Borsianer referred at Puma also to an upcoming cooperation in the United States. Freshly thematized was an already hinted cooperation of Puma with the U.S. basketball player LaMelo Ball and the fashion line Gutter Cat Gang, which is known for so-called Non-Fungible Token (short NFT). Accordingly, a collection of limited sneakers with a digital crypto certificate as a novel proof of ownership is to be marketed under the name "GutterMelo MB.03"./tih/bek/nas