German shares up 0.59 pct at start of trading on Thursday

Source: Xinhua| 2019-11-07 18:19:10|Editor: Shi Yinglun
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BERLIN, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- German stocks were off to a good start on Thursday, with the benchmark DAX index rising by 78.37 points, or 0.59 percent, opening at 13,258.26 points.

The biggest winner among Germany's largest 30 companies at the start of trading was technology giant Siemens, increasing 2.22 percent, followed by Germany's largest bank Deutsche Bank with 1.78 percent and airline Lufthansa with 1.58 percent.

Siemens published its annual results for the fiscal year 2018/2019 on Thursday. As annual turnover increased by 5 percent to 86.8 billion euros (96.2 billion U.S. dollars), the German technological giant announced to increase its dividend by 0.10 euros to 3.90 euros per share.

Germany's largest airline Lufthansa lifted its business guidance for 2019 as a whole on Thursday. Operational profits (adjusted EBIT) declined by 8 percent to 1.3 billion euros in the third quarter while turnover increased slightly by 2 percent to 10.2 billion euros.

Shares of Lufthansa, which is currently affected by a two-day strike of German flight attendants union UFO, skyrocketed by more than 6 percent shortly after trading commenced and stood at the top of the DAX on Thursday morning local time.

On Thursday, Germany's largest bank Deutsche Bank reported net losses of 832 million euros in the third quarter "as a result of strategic adjustments and in line with expectations."

Transformation would be "fully underway with tangible progress on costs and de-risking," commented Christian Sewing, chief executive officer (CEO) of Deutsche Bank.

Shares of Deutsche Telekom fell by more than 3 percent. Germany's largest telecommunications company was the biggest loser at the start of trading on Thursday.

Deutsche Telekom lifted its business guidance for the current year after turnover increased by 4.8 percent to 20.0 billion euros in the third quarter.

However, Deutsche Telekom also cut its dividend outlook and was planning to pay only 0.60 euros per share for 2019. One reason for the decline would be the "unexpectedly high cost" for the 5G frequency auction which ended in June, according to Deutsche Telekom.

The world's largest reinsurance company Munich Re announced on Thursday to "likely surpass 2019 profit target."

The Munich-based reinsurer achieved net profits of 865 million euros in the third quarter despite losses from the Hurricane Dorian in the Caribbean and typhoon Faxai in Japan in 2019.

The euro increased by 0.07 percent on Thursday morning local time, trading at 1.1077 U.S. dollars.

Germany's Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Thursday that production of the German manufacturing sector was down 0.6 percent in September compared to the previous month. Compared to the same period last year, the decline amounted to 4.3 percent.

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