BERLIN, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- German stocks were almost unchanged at the start of trading on Friday, with the benchmark DAX index rising by 19.22 points, or 0.16 percent, to 12,146.00 points.
The biggest winner among Germany's largest 30 companies at the start of trading was the German industrial giant ThyssenKrupp, increasing 1.75 percent followed by airline Lufthansa with 0.62 percent and global internet technology and financial services provider Wirecard with 0.59 percent.
On Thursday, the Finnish elevator company Kone voiced interest in the elevator division of Thyssenkrupp which is valued between 12 and 17 billion euros (13.2 to 18.7 billion U.S. dollars).
"The situation at ThyssenKrupp is very interesting for us. ThyssenKrupp's elevator division would be a perfect match for Kone," said CEO Henrik Ehrnrooth to the Rheinische Post.
The businesses would complement each other perfectly and savings could be achieved, he said.
Although shares of ThyssenKrupp have recovered some of their losses, the company will leave the DAX index on Sept. 23, to be replaced by Munich-based producer of jet engines MTU.
In 2018, MTU had almost 10,000 employees and achieved revenues of 4.57 billion euros. The German producer of jet engines is supplying both Airbus and Boeing.
Shares of carmaker Volkswagen fell by 0.01. The German car manufacturer was the only company losing at the start of trading on Friday.
The euro slightly fell and cost 1.1035 U.S. dollars at the start of trading on Thursday. (1 euro = 1.1035 U.S. dollars)
