Frankfurt (Reuters) - The guesswork surrounding the timing of the interest rate turnaround in the US is keeping the Dax close to the recently cracked 18,000-point mark.

The leading German index was trading 0.4 percent firmer at 18,010 points at midday on Friday. The EuroStoxx50 advanced by half a percent to 5021 points.

Many investors have left behind their hopes of a first interest rate cut by the Fed in June. However, they still firmly expect a turnaround in interest rates in July. On the futures markets, the probability of this is estimated at just under 80 percent. Falling interest rates at further Fed meetings are more or less a foregone conclusion.

US economic data weighed on the stock markets on Thursday. Following a surprising rise in US consumer prices, producer prices also rose more sharply than expected in February. These are seen as an early indicator of the development of inflation, which the Fed is combating with high interest rates. Investors reacted nervously because the data is "the last important economic report before the Fed meeting next week", explained Neil Wilson, chief analyst at broker Finalto.

BITCOIN AND OIL TAKE A BREATHER

Bitcoin ended its rally for the time being. The cryptocurrency with the highest turnover lost more than four percent to around 67,630 dollars, making it the cheapest it has been in a week. "On the one hand, further record highs are tempting, but on the other hand, it remains tempting to reach for the cash register," said Timo Emden from analyst firm Emden Research and suspected profit-taking. "It's not too surprising that investors are taking a deep breath and sorting out all the facts in this context." The reason for the correction on Friday was also the latest US economic data for the most important cyberdevise. However, the general sentiment among investors on the crypto market remains positive in the long term.

Profit-taking also depressed prices on the oil market. North Sea Brent and US WTI crude fell by around 0.6 per cent each. However, at 84.85 and 80.71 dollars per barrel (159 liters), prices were still a good three percent above the previous week's level. This was due to Ukraine's attacks on Russian refineries, a surprising increase in US inventories and a forecast by the International Energy Agency (IEA) for strong demand in the current year.

Among individual German stocks, the real estate giant Vonovia suffered a record annual loss. The Bochum-based group's shares slipped by 5.4 percent. The shares of rivals such as LEG Immobilien, Aroundtown and TAG Immobilien lost between 2.6 and 4.6 percent in the wake of this development. Vonovia posted a loss of around 6.7 billion euros last year following massive devaluations of its properties - more than ever before.

Vodafone was in demand on the London Stock Exchange with a price increase of 3.5 percent. The sale of its Italian business is paying off for shareholders. The British mobile operator is planning a share buyback of four billion euros from 2025 and a dividend of 4.50 euros per share from 2025.

In contrast, shares in the Swiss telecoms group Swisscom, which is buying Vodafone Italia for eight million euros in cash, fell 1.5 percent in Zurich.

LPP was in the spotlight on the Warsaw stock exchange. The shares of the Polish fashion group were targeted by short sellers Hindenburg Research. As a result, the shares plummeted by more than 25 percent, heading for their biggest daily loss in around two years. The US financial analysis firm accuses LPP of not having fully divested its Russian business. For this reason, Hindenburg had taken a short position - i.e. a bet on a falling share price - on LPP shares.

(Report by Zuzanna Szymanska, edited by Christian Götz. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)