FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - After three days of correction, the DAX is likely to start with slight gains on Thursday. Broker IG estimated the leading German index to be 0.2 percent higher at 18,472 points around two and a half hours before the Xetra start in the morning. It had defended its 21-day average line at 18,347 points on Wednesday afternoon, following a weekly drop of more than two percent.

Wall Street continues to present a mixed picture. While the Dow Jones Industrial continued its record chase above 41,200 points, the indices of the technology stock market Nasdaq tore a gap downwards in the chart. The Nasdaq 100 index has now lost more than four percent from its high in the previous week and closed below the 21-day line for the first time since the beginning of May.

Semiconductor stocks were hit particularly hard with double-digit losses in ASML shares, Applied Materials, AMD and Marvell Technology. According to a report by the Bloomberg news agency, the US government is considering drastic trade restrictions against companies whose exports supply Chinese chip manufacturers with American technology.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank is unlikely to do anything on Thursday after heralding a turnaround in interest rates last month with its first cut since autumn 2019./ag/stk