BERLIN, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Following a strong increase of more than 2 percent last week, German stocks started trading almost unchanged, with the benchmark DAX index rising by 19.14 points, or 0.16 percent, opening at 12,210.87 points on Monday.
Like last week, prices are set to be influenced by global trade disputes, low interest rates, Britain's withdrawal from the European Union and the Italian government crisis.
The biggest winner among Germany's largest 30 companies at the start of trading was Germany's largest bank Deutsche Bank, whose stocks increased by 1.06 percent. It was followed by building materials producer HeidelbergCement with 0.90 percent and car manufacturer Volkswagen with 0.81 percent.
Two months after announcing substantial austerity measures and a corporate overhaul, Deutsche Bank appointed Stefan Bender on Friday as head of Corporate Bank Germany, a restructured entity that serves corporate client business in Germany.
Bender will oversee the merger of the corporate client business of Deutsche Bank and subsidiary Postbank. "We want to continue the Deutsche Bank and Postbank brands. But we want to eliminate competition between the two brands," said Bender.
The euro remained virtually unchanged on Monday. In the morning local time, the European currency costs 1.1029 U.S. dollars, increasing slightly by 0.02 percent.
Shares of Germany's largest telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom stagnated with minus 0.01 percent and were the biggest loser at the start of trading on Monday among the 30 largest companies.
The German Federal Statistical Office announced on Monday that exports from Germany rose in July to 115.2 billion euros (about 127.0 billion U.S. dollars), increasing by 3.8 percent year-on-year. Imports declined by 0.9 percent to 93.7 billion euros (about 103.3 billion dollars) compared to last year.
