Germany shares lower at close of trade; DAX down 0.44%

Investing.com – Germany equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Utilities , Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare and Technology sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Frankfurt, the DAX lost 0.44%, while the MDAX index fell 0.43%, and the TecDAX index fell 0.01%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the DAX were SAP SE (DE: SAPG ), which rose 0.74% or 0.710 points to trade at 96.770 at the close. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (DE: BMWG ) added 0.55% or 0.470 points to end at 86.180 and Prosiebensat 1 Media AG (DE: PSMGn ) was up 0.38% or 0.110 points to 29.030 in late trade.

Biggest losers included RWE AG ST O.N. (DE: RWEG ), which lost 4.43% or 0.800 points to trade at 17.270 in late trade. Fresenius SE & Co KGAA O.N. (DE: FREG ) declined 2.93% or 1.950 points to end at 64.580 and Deutsche Boerse AG (DE: DB1Gn ) shed 1.89% or 1.880 points to 97.650.

The top performers on the MDAX were Aurubis AG (DE: NAFG ) which rose 3.29% to 71.920, MTU Aero Engines NA O.N. (DE: MTXGn ) which was up 2.12% to settle at 151.40 and Fraport AG (DE: FRAG ) which gained 1.86% to close at 89.080.

The worst performers were Steinhoff International Holdings NV (DE: SNHG ) which was down 13.29% to 0.57 in late trade, Innogy SE (DE: IGY ) which lost 5.72% to settle at 32.195 and Kion Group AG (DE: KGX ) which was down 1.53% to 69.32 at the close.

The top performers on the TecDAX were RIB Software AG Na (DE: RIB ) which rose 5.40% to 22.530, Aixtron SE (DE: AIXGn ) which was up 4.07% to settle at 12.520 and SMA Solar Technology AG (DE: S92G ) which gained 2.67% to close at 35.730.

The worst performers were Evotec AG O.N. (DE: EVTG ) which was down 5.85% to 14.095 in late trade, Dialog Semiconductor (DE: DLGS ) which lost 1.89% to settle at 23.390 and Medigene NA O.N. (DE: MDG1k ) which was down 1.86% to 12.430 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 476 to 318 and 41 ended unchanged on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

The DAX volatility index , which measures the implied volatility of DAX options, was down 1.98% to 13.18.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.53% or 6.60 to $1255.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.25% or 0.14 to hit $56.74 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.51% or 0.32 to trade at $62.76 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.43% to 1.1775, while EUR/GBP fell 0.53% to 0.8768.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.32% at 93.70.