German Stocks Retreat for Fifth Day; K+S, Daimler, BMW Decline

By Julie Cruz

Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- German stocks declined for a fifth day, driving the benchmark DAX Index to the longest falling streak in three months, as carmakers and steelmakers declined.

K+S AG led declines in the benchmark index, falling 2.2 percent. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Daimler AG slipped more than 1 percent. ThyssenKrupp AG and Salzgitter AG fell with metal prices. Siemens AG advanced as the company reported the highest quarterly profit in more than two years.

The DAX lost 0.8 percent to 5,589.33 at 9:30 a.m. in Frankfurt, on course for the lowest close since November. The gauge has fallen 6.2 percent this year as U.S. President Barack Obama called for a limit on risk-taking by banks and concern mounted that China will raise interest rates to keep economic growth from igniting inflation. The broader HDAX Index lost 0.7 percent today.

K+S AG slid 2.6 percent to 41.04 euros. The world´s biggest salt producer may be banned from dumping minerals into a German river and forced to build a sewer line to the North Sea costing $700 million, about twice its annual operating profit.

Deutsche Boerse AG fell 1.7 percent to 50.04 euros. The operator of the Frankfurt stock exchange plans to focus on “cost discipline” in 2010 as global economies confront a “difficult” year, Chief Executive Officer Reto Francioni said.

Carmakers Decline

BMW and Daimler, the world’s biggest makers of luxury cars, declined 1.5 percent to 29.69 euros and 1.6 percent to 32.96 euros, respectively. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Automobiles & Parts Index fell 1.2 percent, the second-worst performance among 19 industry groups.

ThyssenKrupp, Germany’s biggest steelmaker, lost 1.6 percent to 23.71 euros, while smaller competitor Salzgitter dropped 1.1 percent. Copper, lead, nickel, tin and zinc all fell on the London Metal Exchange.

Siemens jumped 2.9 percent to 66.49 euros. Europe’s largest engineering company said so-called sector profit, or operating earnings at the main industry, energy, and health care units, rose 11 percent to 2.26 billion euros ($3.2 billion), beating the mean of 1.82 billion euros in a Bloomberg survey of 10 analysts. Net income in the quarter ended Dec. 31 rose 23 percent to 1.48 billion euros, the company said.

Munich Re AG climbed 0.6 percent to 109.10 euros as the world’s biggest reinsurer said Warren Buffett’s stake in the company rose above 3 percent as of Jan. 18.

A report today may show German business confidence rose to an 18-month high in January as the global economic recovery boosted exports. The Ifo institute in Munich will say its business climate index, based on a survey of 7,000 executives, increased to 95.1 from 94.7 in December, according to the median of 41 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. That would be the highest reading since July 2008. The index reached a 26-year low of 82.2 in March last year. Ifo releases the report at 10 a.m. today.

To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Julie Cruz in Frankfurt at jcruz6@bloomberg.net;