Dax Holds Firm After Hitting Fresh Record High

(RTTNews) - German stocks are up in positive territory Thursday morning, extending gains to a fourth straight session, as investors continue to shrug off trade war concerns and stay focused on earnings and other corporate developments.

Data showing a moderation in the nation's consumer price inflation is also aiding sentiment.

Optimism about an end to the war in Ukraine has increased following the presidents of Russia and the U.S. expressing willingness to negotiate a resolution.

The benchmark DAX 30, which rose to a fresh record high of 22,452.00 in early trades, was up 189.40 points or 0.86% at 22,332.11 a little while ago.

Stocks from the automobile sector are among the prominent gainers. BMW and Volkswagen are gaining 4.5% and 4.3%, respectively. Continental is up nearly 4% and Mercedes-Benz is climbing up 3.7%. Daimler Truck Holding is rising nearly 2% and Porsche is up 1.35%,

Siemens is up more than 5.5% on strong earnings. The company announced that its first-quarter earnings totaled EUR3.705 billion, or EUR4.66 per share. This compares with EUR2.389 billion, or EUR2.99 per share, last year. The company's revenue for the period rose 3.4% to EUR18.353 billion from EUR17.745 billion last year.

BASF is gaining 3.75% and Deutsche Post is up nearly 2.5%. Zalando is gaining about 2%. Bayer, Brenntag, Vonovia, E.ON., Siemens Energy and Allianz are up 1 to 1.5%.

German industrial conglomerate ThyssenKrupp shares are soaring nearly 10%. The group announced that its first-quarter net loss narrowed from the prior year, despite a drop in sales. Order intake, however, climbed, and the company confirmed fiscal 2025 earnings outlook.

For the first quarter, thyssenkrupp posted a net loss attributable to shareholders of 51 million euros, compared to prior year's loss of 314 million euros. Loss per share was 0.08 euro, compared to loss of 0.50 euro last year.

Commerzbank is down 0.8% despite the lender reporting significantly higher earnings in its fourth quarter. The bank's fourth-quarter consolidated net result grew 90% to 750 million euros from last year's 395 million euros.

Deutsche Telekom, Rheinmetall, Commerzbank, Munich RE, SAP, Hannover Rueck and Deutsche Boerse are notably lower.

Official data from the statistical office Destatis showed Germany's consumer price inflation moderated as initially estimated at the start of the year, rising 2.3% year-on-year in January, following a 2.6% increase in December 2024, which was the highest inflation rate in eleven months.

Inflation based on the harmonized index of consumer prices was unchanged at 2.8% in January, as estimated. Monthly, the HICP edged down 0.2%.

Core inflation that excludes prices of food and energy slowed to 2.9% from 3.3%. That was the lowest since October, when it was at the same level.

The price development for energy and food dampened the inflation rate in January, while the above-average price increases for services in particular continued to drive inflation, the agency said.

The CPI decreased 0.2% month-on-month following a 0.5% increase in December, as estimated.