The Dax began Friday morning the last trading day of the trading week with narrow gains. The much appreciated mark of 17,000 points turned out to be too high in the morning, despite the new records of some American indices: in the first minutes, the main German index rose by 0.09 percent to 16,979 points.
After its all-time high on Tuesday of around 17,050 points, the Dax had not yet been able to sustainably surpass the psychologically important mark of 17,000 points. Jochen Stanzl of CMC Markets attributes the current low fluctuation range of Germany's most important stock barometer to a deadlock between buyers and sellers. In general, the mood on the stock markets is good, so there are signs of a small rise in the German leading index throughout the week.
The MDax of the 50 mid-sized stocks rose 0.13 percent to 25,821 points on Friday morning. The eurozone's leading index, EuroStoxx 50, lost 0.12 percent to 4,705 points after having surpassed 4,700 points the previous day for the first time since 2001.
Oil prices fall slightly: significant gains on a weekly basis
Oil prices initially fell slightly after the previous day's rally. A barrel (159 liters) of North Sea Brent for delivery in April cost $81.51 on Friday. That was 12 cents less than Thursday. The price of a barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in March fell 3 cents to $76.19.
On Thursday in particular, ongoing risks in the Middle East boosted oil prices. This means they are headed for a significant weekly increase.
Even at the end of the week there are no signs that the situation in the Middle East will improve. The Islamist Hamas continues to insist on a ceasefire in the Gaza war, which Israel rejects. Yemen's Islamist Houthi militants, allied with Hamas, recently attacked merchant ships in the Red Sea, threatening the international flow of goods.
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