By Alexis Xydias and Julie Cruz
Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- German stocks dropped, driving the benchmark DAX Index to its first decline this week, as investors weighed an agreement by European leaders to tackle Greece’s budget deficit.
Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG, the country’s biggest banks, lost at least 2 percent. Deutsche Lufthansa AG fell as rival Air France-KLM Group forecast a worse-than-expected loss for the fourth quarter.
The DAX Index lost 1.2 percent to 5,469.49 as of 3:44 p.m. in Frankfurt, the first decline since Feb. 2. The gauge has fallen 9.6 percent since this year’s high in January on concern governments and central banks will withdraw stimulus measures and speculation Greece will struggle to tame its deficit. The broader HDAX Index lost also lost 1.2 percent.
European leaders ordered Greece to get the bloc’s highest budget deficit under control and said they were prepared to take “determined” action to staunch the worst crisis in the euro currency’s 11-year history.
The agreement, brokered by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, stopped short of offering concrete measures to help Greece handle a debt load that exceeds its annual economic output.
“The escalation of the tensions in EMU and the uncertain prospect of a near-term and sustainable positive resolution of the underlying causes make a more cautious strategy appear advisable,” wrote Munich-based Tammo Greetfeld of UniCredit SpA in a strategy report. “Capital preservation now has priority.”
German Banks
Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank lost 2.8 percent to 44.39 euros and 2 percent to 5.57 euros, respectively.
German banks had foreign claims of $330.8 billion related to the three countries on Sept. 30, according to the most recent data from the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland. French banks had $306.8 billion of claims and U.K. lenders $156.3 billion, the data show.
Lufthansa, Germany’s largest airline, dropped 3.7 percent to 10.91 euros. Air France tumbled 7 percent after the company reported a third-quarter loss that was wider than the average analyst and projected a worse-than-expected result for the current period.
Daimler AG, the world’s biggest maker of luxury cars, fell 3.3 percent to 32.54 euros, while Bayerische Motoren Werke AG declined 1.9 percent to 29.11 euros. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Automobiles & Parts Index fell as much as 3.2 percent today, the worst performance among 19 industry groups in Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index.
Aurubis AG surged 4.4 percent to 31.40 euros. The company posted first-quarter net income of 90 million euros ($124 million) compared with a net loss of 98 million euros in the year-ago period. Aurubis said it expects demand for copper products to rise “in the mid-term” and sees full-year operating profit rising.
The following shares also rose or fell in German markets. Stocks symbols are in parentheses.
Celesio AG (CLS1 GY) dropped 1.2 percent to 20.49 euros. The German drug wholesaler was rated “underweight” in new coverage at Morgan Stanley, with a share price estimate of 19 euros.
Dialog Semiconductor Plc (DLG GY) climbed 11 percent to 10.70 euros, the biggest one-day gain in more than a month. Chief Executive Officer Jalal Bagherli said he’s relaxed about analyst predictions for the German chipmaker’s revenue to rise as much as 38 percent this year.
Fresenius SE (FRE3 GY) rose 2 percent to 49.23 euros. The health-care company was rated “overweight” in new coverage at Morgan Stanley, which set a share-price estimate of 60 euros.
Gerresheimer AG (GXI GY) slumped 4.4 percent to 22.35 euros, on course for the lowest close since November. The German medical-packaging company was cut to “neutral” from “overweight” at Piper Jaffray.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alexis Xydias in London at axydias@bloomberg.net; Julie Cruz in Frankfurt at jcruz6@bloomberg.net
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment