Stock exchange in Frankfurt: Dax builds on gains from the previous day

Thanks to positive economic news from Germany and China, the Dax picked up on the gains of the previous day on Thursday. The leading German index rose by 0.81 percent to 13,327.04 points. The MDax of medium-sized companies increased in early trading by 0.64 percent to 26,224.09 points. The Eurozone leading index EuroStoxx 50 gained 0.8 percent.

Stockbrokers pointed to the fact that China has announced further billions in aid to stabilize the country’s flagging economy. In addition, the German economy unexpectedly grew slightly in the second quarter. Gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.1 percent compared to the previous quarter. In an initial estimate, the Federal Statistical Office assumed that economic output would stagnate.

Markets, meanwhile, are eagerly awaiting impressions from the multi-day Fed conference in Jackson Hol, which was due to start on Thursday. The focus on Friday is a speech by Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The main puzzle is the pace of interest rate hikes.

Among the individual stocks, the focus was on Aroundtown. The commercial real estate specialist got a boost in the first half of the year mainly thanks to its residential real estate subsidiary Grand City Properties. According to dealers, the operating profit was better than expected. The shares rose in the MDax by 1.7 percent.

At the end of the index, Uniper’s shares fell by more than six percent. The US bank Citigroup had criticized the shares. Analyst Piotr Dzieciolowski pointed out that the federal government’s stabilization package for the ailing energy supplier would lead to a strong dilution of the shares of existing shareholders.

In the Dax, the papers of the reinsurer Munich Re rose by a good two percent. There was a positively received analyst comment from the investment house KBW.