German Stocks Erase Losses; Volkswagen, Deutsche Boerse Rise

By Stefanie Haxel

Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- German stocks erased losses after Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan's biggest bank by assets, said it will buy as much as 20 percent of Morgan Stanley. Volkswagen AG, Deutsche Boerse AG and Commerzbank AG led the rise.

The benchmark DAX Index gained 22.27, or 0.4 percent, to 6,211.8 as of 2:46 p.m. in Frankfurt after falling as much as 0.5 percent earlier. The HDAX Index of the country's 110 biggest companies climbed 0.3 percent to 3,146.52.

Mitsubishi UFJ agreed to buy between 10 percent and 20 percent of the U.S. securities firm and will decide on a price after conducting due diligence, the bank said in a statement.

Volkswagen, Europe's largest carmaker, surged 17.08 euros, or 6.5 percent, to 279.08. Deutsche Boerse, the region's largest exchange by market value, advanced 3.33 euros, or 5.2 percent, to 67.08 euros.

Commerzbank, Germany's second-largest bank, increased 64 cents, or 4 percent, to 16.51 euros.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stefanie Haxel in Frankfurt at shaxel@bloomberg.net.