DAX Climbs Higher; Adidas, Daimler Among Notable Gainers

(RTTNews) - German stocks are up firmly in positive territory a little past noon on Friday, despite rising trade tensions, and uncertainty surrounding the nation's spending plans. Investors are digesting the nation's inflation data and some corporate earnings updates.

The benchmark index DAX, which climbed to 22,731.72, was up 165.12 points or 0.73% at 22,698.10 a little while ago.

Rheinmetall is gaining 4.3% and Adidas is rising nearly 3%. Siemens Healthineers, Fresenius Medical Care, Zalando, MTU Aero Engines, Heidelberg Materials, BASF, Bayer and Commerzbank are up 1 to 2%.

Daimler Truck is gaining nearly 1.5%, despite reporting a 15% drop in adjusted earnings for fiscal year 2024. The company has forecast that adjusted operating profit would rise by 5% - 15% in 2025.

Daimler has also launched a billion-dollar cost-cutting programme in Europe after a poor performance in the region weighed on earnings. The efficiency programme will result in a reduction of recurring costs for Mercedes-Benz Trucks in Europe of over 1 billion euros ($1.08 billion) by 2030 at the latest, the company said.

BMW is down 1.7% on weak results. The automajor's net profit fell 40.9% to 1.55 billion euros in the fourth-quarter, from last year's 2.61 billion euros. Earnings per share of common stock were 2.41 euros, down 36.1% from prior year's 3.77 euros.

Profit before financial result or EBIT plunged 57.3 percent to 1.88 billion euros from 4.41 billion euros a year ago. EBT margin declined 2.8 percentage points to 5.8% from 8.6% a year earlier.

Siemens Energy and Qiagen are lower by 1.1% and 1%, respectively. Deutsche Bank, Volkswagen, Hannover Rueck and Infineon are down 0.5 to 0.7%.

Data from the statistical office Destatis showed Germany's consumer price index rose 2.3% year-on-year in February, the same as in January. That was in line with the flash data published on February 28.

Food inflation rose to 2.4% from 0.8%, while costs for energy products were 1.6% cheaper compared to last year. Prices for services were 3.8% more expensive.

Core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, eased to 2.7% in February, remaining above the general inflation trend.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.4% in February after falling 0.2% in the previous month, as estimated.

The harmonized index of consumer prices rose 2.6% in February, slower than January's 2.8% rise. In the flash report, the inflation rate was also 2.8%. Monthly, the HICP rose 0.5%, revised down from 0.6%.