DAX (Frankfurt) – German Stock market overview
Week: 18This week the German XETRA DAX index has experienced a decrease of
-3.53%
during the week and closed with a value of
6,561.47 points
. After two weeks of increase, this week cut the growthstreak for DAX INDEX. Top 3 gainers of the week were: Fresenius SE & Co KGaA (+4.32%),adidas AG (+3.14%) and Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co KGaA (+1.22%). But top 3fallers were: Man SE (-10.19%), HeidelbergCement AG (-8.93%) and BASF SE (-8.83%). The overall turnover during the week was
18.48
billion Euros.
Dax index changes during the week 18. Source: markets.ft.com
Fresenius SE & Co KGaA (FREd)
, a Germany-based holding company, was the biggest gainer this week with a
+4.32%
increase in share price. Both the Freseniusgroup and its medical care segment experienced increase in their share price, mostlikely the effect was partly inspired by the same acquiring action taken.
Adidas AG (ADSd),
a Germany-based holding company for the Adidas Group, whichis engaged in sportswear manufacturing, outperformed expectations with high first-quarter earnings and raised its profit goals for year 2012, increasing the share prices at
+3.14%,
in spite of warning of costs to come from problems at an Indian subsidiary.With that impressive jump on Monday, after the announcement of strong first-quarter earnings, Adidas placed itself 2
nd
in this week`s gainers list.With a slight increase of +
1.22%
in share prices
Fresenius Medical Care (FMEd),
asupplier of medicine, was the third biggest gainer of the week, being one of five business segments of Fresenius SE group . The overall increase mainly was formed bythe growth on Wednesday, April 30
th
after a decision of FMEdto acquire all the outstanding shares of German private hospital operator Rhon-Klinikum AG. However, a substantial downward pressure was put shortly after whenStandard & Poor’s placed the company’s BB+ ratings on watch negative.
Man SE (MANd)
, German truck maker, is the weakest performer of the FrankfurtStock exchange. This week, MANd experienced significant decrease of
10.19%
in itsshare prices. During the week the share value was decreasing steadily. The downward pressure on stock was put by the financial statements of the company released on
Thursday, which say that the company’s profits decreased by enormous 77% in the firstquarter, comparing to previous year’s results. Such a decline was caused by decline insales in Brazil, as well as downturn in the whole truck-manufacturing industry. There isevidence to believe that MANd’s share prices will show negative trends even further due to forecasted decline in revenues of 5%. Yet, the company’s management claims tocombat decline in profits via slashing the costs and reviewing its products portfolio.The second worst performer of the week is
HeidelbergCement AG (HEId)
, theworld’s third-largest maker of cement. The price per share of the company decreased by
8.93%
during this week. Despite a slight increase on Wednesday, on Thursday andFriday stock declined by 3.44% and 6.19% respectively, as series of negative newsentered the market. The company’s operating profit declined by almost 80% in the firstquarter of the year. The management of the company blames increasing energy pricesfor such a decline in profits. As a result, company increased prices for its products, soas to offset the negative effect. Despite low returns in the first quarter, analysts stillexpect HEId’s operating profit to rise this year, thus perhaps the stock is going torecover soon.The third biggest loser this week was
BASF SE (BASd)
with a
-8.83%
drop and adecrease in share price from
64.74 EUR
to
59.49 EUR
. High oil and commodities prices are starting to dent the profitability of the world’s largest industrial and consumer goods companies, that’s why raw materials prices, particularly oil prices are rising.Also Kurt Bock, chief executive of BASF, told investors “increased raw material costscould not be fully passed on in all business areas, which put pressure on our margins”.The 18
th
week has ended on a negative note for most of the European stock markets,including the German DAX. On Friday, the index has decreased by
1.99%
possibly as aresult of worse-than-expected jobs data from the United States reported on the sameday. The doubts on the Europe's largest export market’s economic momentum are stillrising; therefore it is quite possible that the index will continue to fall also next week.