FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Prospects of further orders for the Rheinmetall armaments group gave its shares fresh momentum on Friday. The market pointed to statements by Group CEO Armin Papperger about an extensive ammunition framework agreement with the German government.

Shares in the Dax company jumped 3.5 percent in the morning to 256.30 euros, thus also overcoming the upward moving 90-day line for the medium-term trend at just under 255 euros. The day before, the share price had already broken above the downward 21-day line, which signals the short-term trend. Since the beginning of the year, the share price has now soared by almost 38 percent, making Rheinmetall one of the best-performing stocks in the Dax alongside Adidas.

Hensoldt, which on Monday was recommended as a buy by analysts Kepler Cheuvreux with a target price of 33 euros, rose by 2.7 percent to 29.64 euros. This means a gain of 34 percent for the shares of the defense electronics manufacturer in the year to date and thus one of the top places in the MDax, the index of mid-sized stocks. The two defence shares had already been in high demand in 2022 due to the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine.

Several traders now pointed out for Rheinmetall shares that Group CEO Papperger had told the Reuters news agency that a multi-billion euro framework ammunition contract would be concluded in the next six weeks. One of the traders added that such contracts are usually "high margin deals."

Another Borsian said, "The interview confirms our expectation that contract awards will accelerate in the coming weeks." He recalled that the Bundestag's defense committee would meet at least twice more before the summer break, and also recent statements by the president of the Bundeswehr Procurement Office, Annette Lehnigk-Emden, and Finance Minister Christian Lindner.

Lehnigk-Emden had recently said that two-thirds of the orders under the 100-billion-euro special pot will be implemented this year and the rest then in the first quarter of 2024. In addition, the market participant added, Lindner had this week underscored his spending targets for the Bundeswehr./ck/tih/jha/