German Stocks Fall for Sixth Day; Banks, Siemens, Henkel Fall

By Stefanie Haxel

Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- German stocks fell for a sixth day, led by financial shares after Deutsche Bank AG reported a loss in the fourth-quarter.

Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank, and Commerzbank AG, both plunged more than 7 percent. Siemens AG lost 5.8 percent after Europe’s largest engineering company said first-quarter orders dropped “significantly” and Merrill Lynch & Co. downgraded the stock to “neutral.”

The benchmark DAX Index slipped 1.7 percent to 4,556.61 as of 12:54 p.m. in Frankfurt. DAX futures expiring in March lost 1.8 percent. The broader HDAX also fell 1.8 percent.

“Investors are speculating losses at banks may turn out to be bigger than previously expected,” said Olaf Kayser, a Mainz-based analyst at Landesbank Baden- Wuerttemberg.

Deutsche Bank sank 8.8 percent to 22.13 euros. The company reported a loss of about 4.8 billion euros in the fourth quarter after debt and equity trading suffered amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Commerzbank, Germany’s second-largest bank, dropped 7.5 percent to 3.99 euros. Deutsche Postbank AG, Germany’s biggest consumer bank by clients, lost 7.7 percent to 13.25 euros.

Siemens lost 5.8 percent to 45.32 euros. Orders through December decreased from a year earlier to about 22.2 billion euros after manufacturers ran down stocks of automation equipment and U.S. hospitals postponed purchases of scanners. Merrill Lynch cut its recommendation to “neutral” from “buy.”

Irish Denial

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen may call in the IMF for help, should the economic outlook continue to worsen, broadcaster RTE said. The comments were denied in a statement by the Finance Ministry. Ireland’s economy, the first in the euro area to fall into recession last year, stagnated in the third quarter as construction, investment and consumer spending all slumped.

“Ireland, like Spain and the U.K., is suffering from the burst of its housing-price bubble and is therefore going through a longer and deeper economic downturn compared to the European average,” said Stefan Raetzer, who manages about 1 billion euros at Allianz Global Investors in Frankfurt. “That the country may call in the IMF exacerbates the situation, that wasn’t expected.”

Henkel AG & Co. KGaA declined 3.2 percent to 21.69 euros, a four-week low. Jefferies International Ltd. gave the maker of Loctite glue and Persil detergent an “underperform” recommendation in new coverage.

The following stocks also rose or fell in German markets. Symbols are in parentheses.

Arcandor AG (ARO GY) fell 5 percent to 2.26 euros. The retailer that controls tour operator Thomas Cook Group Plc said first-quarter sales were little changed in its mail- order and department stores units.

Deutsche Euroshop AG (DEQ GY) climbed 3.3 percent to 22.46 euros, snapping a five-day retreat. Germany’s biggest investor in shopping centers was upgraded to “buy” from “hold” at Equinet AG.

GEA Group AG (G1A GY) plunged 7.2 percent to 10.05 euros. The engineer whose machines milk a third of the world’s dairy cows reported sales may have missed a target and orders were “marginally below” the year earlier.

Separately, WestLB AG cut its recommendation on the stock to “hold” from “add.”

HeidelbergCement AG (HEI GY) tumbled 11 percent to 29.78 euros. Germany’s largest cement maker, an asset of deceased German billionaire Adolf Merckle, faces pressure to sell assets to pay down debt from an acquisition.

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