DAX Modestly Higher; Scout24, Deutsche Telekom Among Top Gainers

(RTTNews) - Despite lingering concerns about workforce disruption due to artificial-intelligence related layoffs, German stocks are modestly higher Friday morning, led by some strong gains at select counters.

The benchmark DAX, which climbed to 25,407.75 earlier in the session, was up 59.90 points or 0.25% at 25,337.60 a little while ago.

Scout24, Deutsche Telekom and Siemens Energy are gaining 2.7%, 2.5%, and 2.1%, respectively. Merck is rising 1.7%, RWE is moving up 1.35% and Heidelberg Materials is up 1.2%.

Qiagen, Vonovia, Beiersdorf, GEA Group and Deutsche Boerse are up 0.7%-1%. Symrise, Fresenius Medical Care, Allianz, Brenntag and Rheinmetall are up with modest gains.

BASF is declining by about 2% after the company forecast flat earnings this year.. MTU Aero Engines is also lower by nearly 2%, while Infineon Technologies, Fresenius, Adidas, Siemens Healthineers and Commerzbank are down 0.4%-1%.

Delivery Hero is down more than 4% after reporting annual gross merchandise value (GMV) slightly below market expectations.

Preliminary data showed Germany's import prices rose at a faster than expected pace in January but remained lower in year-on-year comparison due to the steep fall in energy prices, a report from the statistical office Destatis said.

The import price index rose 1.1% month-on-month, same as in December, data showed. Economists had expected an increase of 0.6%. This was the largest month-on-month increase recorded since January 2025, which was also 1.1%, the statistical office said.

Import prices fell 2.3% year-on-year, same as in December.

In January, energy prices slumped 21.1% year-on-year but rose 3.5% from the previous month.

Germany's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.3% in February 2026, underscoring the continued strain from three years of economic weakness on Europe's largest labor market. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, unemployment fell by 14,700 to 3.07 million, easing from January's near 12-year high of 3.08 million.