DAX Slips On War Concerns, Weak PMI Data

(RTTNews) - German stocks drifted lower on Thursday, with investors reacting to flash PMI data and some corporate earnings updates. Concerns about the impact of the Middle East tensions and higher oil prices weighed as well.

The benchmark DAX was down 174.25 points or 0.72% at 24,035.98 about a quarter past noon.

SAP eased by about 3.5%. Fresenius lost 3%, while Deutsche Bank and Qiagen drifted down by 2.3% and 2.1%, respectively.

Adidas, Rheinmetall, Heidelberg Materials, Merck, Porsche Automobil Holding, Scout24, BMW, Commerzbank, Deutsche Post, Symrise, Siemens Healthineers, Zalando and Volkswagen lost 1%-1.7%.

German life sciences group Sartorius plummeted almost 5 percent after reporting a fall in Q1 underlying net profit.

Infineon Technologies climbed 5.5% after STMicroelectronics reported strong quarterly earnings.

E.ON, Deutsche Telekom, BASF, Beiersdorf and Fresenius Medical Care gained 0.7%-1.1%.

Data from S&P Global showed Germany's S&P Global Composite PMI fell to 48.3 in April, down sharply from 51.9 in March and below market expectations of 51.1, according to preliminary data.

The S&P Global Germany Manufacturing PMI fell to 51.2 in April from 52.2 in the prior month, broadly in line with forecasts of 51.3, according to flash estimates. Meanwhhile, flash Services PMI fell sharply to 46.9 in April from 50.9 in March, missing expectations of 50.3 and marking the deepest contraction since November 2022.