DAX Up 0.32% Despite Coming Off Day's High

(RTTNews) - The German market is up firmly in positive territory on Thursday, extending gains from the previous session, amid expectations the Federal Reserve will announce an interest rate cut after its monetary policy meeting next week.

In addition to digesting regional economic data, investors are also looking ahead to U.S. non-farm payroll data.

The benchmark DAX, which climbed to 23,723.14 earlier in the session, was up 76.61 points or 0.32% at 23,677.14 a little while ago.

Heidelberg Materials is rising 2.75%, Zalando is gaining 2.5%, RWE is advancing 2.3%, and Bayer is up by about 2.1%.

Deutsche Telekom, Munich RE, Deutsche Post, Beiersdorf and E.On are up 1 to 1.35%. Daimler Truck Holding, SAP, Henkel, Infineon Technologies, Siemens Healthineers and Merck are up 0.7 to 0.9%.

Porsche AG shares dropped nearly 1% earlier in the session, as stock is set to be relegated to the German mid-caps index MDAX following recent losses in its share. The stock recovered subsequently, and was up just marginally a little before noon.

MTU Aero Engines is down 2.1%. Rheinmetall is declining 1.7%, while Porsche Automobil Holding, BASF, Fresenius Medical Care and Sartorius are down 0.4 to 1%.

In econmic news, Germany's construction sector shrank further in August largely due to the steep fall in new orders, survey results from S&P Global showed.

The HCOB construction Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 46.0 in August from July's 29-month high of 46.3.

Data from Eurostat showed Eurozone retail sales declined more than expected in July, largely reflecting a notable fall in food and auto fuel sales.

Retail sales posted a monthly fall of 0.5%, in contrast to the 0.6% increase in June. Sales were expected to fall 0.3%.

On a yearly basis, growth in retail sales eased to 2.2% in July from 3.5% in June. Moreover, this was weaker than forecast of 2.4%.

Sales in the EU27 registered a monthly fall of 0.4% in July but increased 2.4% from a year ago.