Exchanges - Dax yields only slightly

DAX &  Fear of the epidemic

    Frankfurt / Main (DPA) - The Dax fought for recovery on Monday and ultimately closed with moderate losses. The spreading virus crisis still dominated the mood.

    However, the major central banks around the world, which signaled their willingness to act, gave hope. This ensured above all that the US stock markets recovered, which ultimately also helped the European stock markets.

    The leading German index dropped slightly by 0.27 percent to 11,857.87 points after having slumped more than 12 percent last week due to fear of a pandemic. The fluctuation range during the day remained high due to the large, virus-related uncertainty with a total of around 500 points.

    The medium-sized MDax stabilized at minus 0.07 percent to 25,348.33 points. The most important equity indices across Europe also closed somewhat recovered: the leading index of the Eurozone, the EuroStoxx 50, ended trading slightly up 0.28 percent to 3338.83 points. Profits were also made again in Paris and London. In the U.S., the high-profile Wall Street index Dow Jones Industrial rose 2.4 percent at the close in Europe, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq exchanges also rose.

    While the risk posed by the novel coronavirus is increasing as the number of new infections continues to increase worldwide and the industrialized countries organization OECD no longer rules out a recession in the euro-zone and Japan, the central banks are trying to calm the stock markets. After the US central bank signaled its willingness to act on monetary policy on Friday, the central banks of Great Britain and Japan have now followed suit. The European Central Bank (ECB) also expressed its willingness to act.

    Lufthansa shares were once again the biggest loser in the Dax, this time at minus 6.5 percent. In view of the virus crisis, the airline and its subsidiaries are canceling flights to Asia for the time being. Many connections to Italy are canceled and the domestic German flight program is also thinned out.

    Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank securities from trading were also very weak, each with a minus of 4 percent. Because of the effects of the coronavirus, the risk of bankruptcies of individual companies and thus the credit default risk is growing, said market observer Andreas Lipkow from Comdirect Bank. This weighs on the "financially weak German financial institutions" in addition to the general concerns about an economic downturn. In addition, falling interest rates on the capital markets are poisonous for the earnings of financial institutions.

    In contrast, Teamviewer's stock shot to the top in the MDax like a rocket. With an increase of 11 percent to EUR 35.69, it closed just below the record high it had just reached. As a provider of software for video conferencing, the company is seen as a profiteer of the epidemic. In the Dax, the share of the shop pharmacy increased by almost 7 percent. Online pharmacies are currently experiencing explosive demand. Because of the virus, there were hamster purchases.

    However, Drägerwerk shares were unable to maintain their significant daily earnings. After the papers had reached their highest level since September 2018, profit-taking started. Among other things, the medical technology company manufactures respiratory masks.

    After solid business figures, Rheinmetall shares temporarily advanced by almost ten percent. After temporary losses, they then went out with a plus of 2.3 percent. Cewe shares rose by 5.5 percent because the SDax company has decided on a share buyback program.

    The current yield on the bond market fell from minus 0.59 to minus 0.62 percent. The Rex index rose by 0.15 percent to 146.24 points. The Bund future gained 0.12 percent to 177.69 points. At times, the futures contract had reached its highest level in six months.

     The euro continued the recent rally, rising above $ 1.11 for the first time since mid-January. In the early evening, the common currency was trading at $ 1.1188. The European Central Bank set the reference rate this afternoon at $ 1.1122 (Friday: 1.0977). The dollar thus cost 0.8991 (0.9110) euros.