On Thursday, the DAX index of the Frankfurt stock market fell from its record high due to an unexpected shift towards restrictive monetary policy by the European Central Bank (ECB) and a surprise drop in the Consumer Climate Indicator.
The GfK Consumer Climate Indicator, a key economic data point released earlier today, fell to -29.7 this February compared to a revised -25.4 last month. This decrease is larger than the predicted downturn to -24.5, marking the lowest level in nearly a year.
At present, the 40-component DAX index is trading at 16,855.28, having fallen slightly by 0.27 percent from Thursday's close of 16,900.62. The day witnessed a trade range between a peak of 16,873.49 and a nadir of 16,842.42.
Of the 40 components in the index, half are currently in the positive trade territory compared to overnight values. Healthcare company Sartorius saw the most significant increase with a surge of 8.8 percent, followed closely by Merck, which rallied by 6.4 percent. Other companies like Siemens Healthineers, Brenntag, Qiagen, and Porsche, all recorded gains of over a percent.
Leading the losses, Bayer faced a steep decline of nearly 2.5 percent. Other companies such as Deutsche Telekom, Vonovia, Rheinmetall, Infineon Technologies, Siemens Energy, Zalando, and SAP, all experienced a decrease of over a percent. Meanwhile, the EUR/USD pair saw a dip of 0.16 percent to 1.0829, while the Dollar Index slightly increased by 0.04 percent to settle at 103.61.
In response to the global decrease in bond yields, Germany's bond yields fell overnight by 1.16 percent, currently standing at 2.2565 percent, compared to 2.2830 percent at the previous close.
