DAX Pares Some Gains After Hitting Fresh Record High

(RTTNews) - German stocks rose to fresh record highs Thursday morning, as the Trump administration's decision to suspend car import duties from Canada and Mexico for a month raising optimism about potential tariff relaxation or exemptions on other products.

Investors are also betting on hopes the European Central Bank will reduce interes rate once again. The focus is on ECB President Christine Lagarde's comments for clues about further moves by the central bank in the coming months.

The benchmark DAX, which climbed to 23,441.70 in early trades, was up 121.70 or 0.52% at 23,241.20 a little while ago.

Automobile stocks are in demand. Mercedes-Benz is surging is more than 4.5%. Continental, Daimler Truck Holding, BMW, Porsche and Volkswagen are gaining 2 to 3.5%.

Deutsche Post is up with a hefty gain of 11% after the company announced a €1 billion cost-cutting plan. The German mail service stated that around 8,000 letter and package carrier positions would be eliminated this year, affecting its 187,000-strong workforce.

The cuts are set to be implemented through natural fluctuation, ensuring a socially responsible process, according to Tobias Meyer, the chief executive of the DHL Group.

This move is part of an extensive cost-saving initiative that spans the entire logistics conglomerate, which includes the DHL Group's global workforce of approximately 600,000 employees.

Merck is up 3.5% on strong results. On an adjusted basis, earnings per share were 8.63 euros in fiscal 2024, compared to 8.49 euros last year. Further, the Executive Board and Supervisory Board intend to propose a stable dividend of 2.20 euros per share to the Annual General Meeting on April 25.

Looking ahead, for fiscal 2025, Merck anticipates net sales between 21.5 billion euros and 22.9 billion euros, corresponding to an organic growth of 3% to 6% from last year. EBITDA pre is projected to be 6.1 billion euros to 6.6 billion euros, an organic growth of 3% to 8% from the previous year.

Siemens Energy is rising 6.7%. Heidelberg Materials and Deutsche Bank are up 3.2% and 3.3%, respectively. Sartorius is up 3.7%. RWE, E.ON, Qiagen, Siemens, Infineon, Continental, Bayer, Brenntag and RWE are up 1.2 to 3%.

Lufthansa Group shares are up more than 6%. The group reported that fiscal 2024 net profit declined to 1.4 billion euros from 1.7 billion euros, prior year. The Group generated an operating profit, or adjusted EBIT, of 1.6 billion euros compared to 2.7 billion euros, last year. In 2024, the Group increased revenue by six percent year on year to 37.6 billion euros. Passenger numbers grow by 7% to over 130 million.

Vonovia is down 3.2%. MTU Aero Engines, Deutsche Telekom, Beiersdorf, SAP, Airbus Group and Deutsche Boerse are lower by 1 to 2.5%.

On the economic front, Germany's construction sector continued to contract and the pace of decline worsened in February, survey results from S&P Global showed on Thursday.

The HCOB construction Purchasing Managers' Index registered 41.2 in February, down from January's 20-month high of 42.5. The reading remained well below 50.0 indicating contraction.