Germany shares lower at close of trade; DAX down 2.37%

Investing.com – Germany equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Food & Beverages , Financial Services and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Frankfurt, the DAX lost 2.37% to hit a new 52-week low, while the MDAX index fell 1.41%, and the TecDAX index lost 1.27%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the DAX were Fresenius Medical Care KGAA ST (DE: FMEG ), which fell 0.21% or 0.120 points to trade at 57.060 at the close. SAP SE (DE: SAPG ) fell 0.73% or 0.630 points to end at 85.790 and Muench. Rueckvers. VNA O.N. (DE: MUVGn ) was down 1.11% or 2.10 points to 186.25 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Merck KGaA (DE: MRCG ), which lost 4.46% or 4.16 points to trade at 89.20 in late trade. Vonovia SE (DE: VNAn ) declined 4.29% or 1.78 points to end at 39.70 and Deutsche Bank AG NA O.N. (DE: DBKGn ) shed 4.15% or 0.292 points to 6.750.

The top performers on the MDAX were Delivery Hero AG (DE: DHER ) which rose 4.54% to 31.78, Nemetschek AG O.N. (DE: NEKG ) which was up 2.18% to settle at 93.800 and Zalando SE (DE: ZALG ) which gained 1.78% to close at 22.93.

The worst performers were Morphosys AG O.N. (DE: MORG ) which was down 5.22% to 87.2000 in late trade, Commerzbank AG O.N. (DE: CBKG ) which lost 4.67% to settle at 5.538 and Stroeer SE (DE: SAXG ) which was down 4.57% to 42.620 at the close.

The top performers on the TecDAX were Steinhoff International Holdings NV (DE: SNHG ) which unchanged 4.09% to 0.10, SAF Holland SA (DE: SFQN ) which was up 1.36% to settle at 11.200 and Befesa SA (DE: BFSA ) which gained 1.10% to close at 36.70.

The worst performers were SLM Solutions Group AG (DE: AM3D ) which was down 11.80% to 8.82 in late trade, ADO Properties SARL (DE: ADJ ) which lost 5.72% to settle at 44.84 and Stroeer SE (DE: SAXG ) which was down 4.57% to 42.620 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 571 to 167 and 41 ended unchanged on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

The DAX volatility index , which measures the implied volatility of DAX options, was up 21.14% to 25.33 a new 6-month high.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.77% or 9.75 to $1279.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 3.35% or 1.56 to hit $45.05 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 3.47% or 1.92 to trade at $53.37 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.61% to 1.1422, while EUR/GBP rose 0.61% to 0.9042.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.43% at 96.165.