FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The recovery of the German stock market gained momentum on Friday. For the first time since mid-November, the DAX jumped above the psychologically important 24,000-point mark. Ultimately, the leading index closed 0.61 percent higher at 24,028.14 points.
"The stock market traffic light is green," commented Jürgen Molnar of RoboMarkets. Investors are already positioning themselves for the eagerly awaited interest rate decision by the US Federal Reserve next week. The MDAX, which tracks medium-sized German stocks, ended the week up 0.34 percent at 29,696.45 points.
Since the weak start to the month with a low of 23,433 points on Monday, the DAX has now gained a good deal of ground. It is up 0.8 percent for the week. With the current gains, hopes are rising again for a year-end rally in the DAX.
In this positive scenario, the next milestone is the greater resistance level of 24,200 points, according to Molnar. At times on Friday, the leading index climbed to 24,130 points. Increased orders for German industry provided tailwinds ahead of the weekend. In addition, price data from the US came in as expected in the afternoon.
From the perspective of market analyst Jochen Stanzl of Consorsbank, the latest economic data does not change the expectation of an interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday. Investors had recently increasingly priced in further interest rate cuts. However, Stanzl added that the data is too heterogeneous to justify an automatic series of further steps. The tricky part of the upcoming Fed meeting will therefore be the outlook. /niw/mis
