German Stocks Advance, Led by Deutsche Post, Fresenius Medical

By Stefanie Haxel

March 25 (Bloomberg) -- German stocks gained, erasing earlier losses, as Deutsche Post AG, Fresenius Medical Care AG and Metro AG rose.

The benchmark DAX Index added 0.4 percent to 4,203.73 as of 10:04 a.m. in Frankfurt after falling as much as 0.7 percent earlier. The broader HDAX Index advanced 0.4 percent.

Stocks maintained their gains after the the Munich-based Ifo institute’s business climate index for March dropped to 82.1 from 82.6 last month. Economists expected a decline to 82.2, according to the median of 37 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey.

Deutsche Post, Europe’s biggest postal service, climbed 4.1 percent to 8.23 euros. Fresenius Medical, the world’s biggest provider of kidney dialysis, added 3.6 percent to 27.55 euros.

Metro, Germany’s largest retailer, increased 3.3 percent to 25.26 euros.

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