Germany shares lower at close of trade; DAX down 1.57%

Investing.com – Germany equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare , Software and Retail sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Frankfurt, the DAX lost 1.57% to hit a new 1-month low, while the MDAX index declined 1.72%, and the TecDAX index fell 3.17%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the DAX were Henkel & Co KGaA AG Pref (DE: HNKG_p ), which fell 0.12% or 0.10 points to trade at 82.56 at the close. Deutsche Post AG NA O.N. (DE: DPWGn ) fell 0.32% or 0.085 points to end at 26.530 and Deutsche Boerse AG (DE: DB1Gn ) was down 0.40% or 0.500 points to 123.600 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Wirecard AG (DE: WDIG ), which lost 4.77% or 7.675 points to trade at 153.225 in late trade. Thyssenkrupp AG O.N. (DE: TKAG ) declined 3.31% or 0.400 points to end at 11.700 and Fresenius SE & Co KGAA O.N. (DE: FREG ) shed 2.95% or 1.410 points to 46.340.

The top performers on the MDAX were Rocket Internet (DE: RKET ) which rose 4.85% to 23.36, Aroundtown Property Holdings PLC (DE: AT1 ) which was up 4.66% to settle at 7.722 and Knorr-Bremse AG (DE: KBX ) which gained 2.53% to close at 99.35.

The worst performers were Bechtle AG (DE: BC8G ) which was down 8.86% to 100.800 in late trade, Siltronic AG (DE: WAFGn ) which lost 7.35% to settle at 62.780 and Evonik Industries AG (DE: EVKn ) which was down 6.82% to 23.350 at the close.

The top performers on the TecDAX were SLM Solutions Group AG (DE: AM3D ) which rose 4.71% to 8.90, SMA Solar Technology AG (DE: S92G ) which was up 4.13% to settle at 24.700 and Telefonica Deutschland Holding AG (DE: O2Dn ) which gained 1.29% to close at 2.515.

The worst performers were Bechtle AG (DE: BC8G ) which was down 8.86% to 100.800 in late trade, Siltronic AG (DE: WAFGn ) which lost 7.35% to settle at 62.780 and Morphosys AG O.N. (DE: MORG ) which was down 5.62% to 89.375 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 561 to 135 and 77 ended unchanged on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

The DAX volatility index , which measures the implied volatility of DAX options, was up 8.17% to 18.14.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.26% or 3.30 to $1280.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 1.17% or 0.69 to hit $58.45 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 1.66% or 1.14 to trade at $67.53 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.26% to 1.1131, while EUR/GBP rose 0.02% to 0.8821.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.22% at 98.062.