BERLIN, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- German stocks were almost unchanged at the start of trading on Tuesday, with the benchmark DAX index losing 12.32 points, or 0.09 percent, opening at 13,439.52 points.
The biggest winner among Germany's 30 largest listed companies at the start of trading was sportswear manufacturer Adidas increasing 0.52 percent, followed by Dialysis specialist Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) with 0.45 percent and automotive supplier Continental with 0.35 percent.
On Monday, U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs maintained a "Buy" rating for Adidas but raised its price target from 310 to 350 euros (345 to 390 U.S. dollars). Shares in Adidas were trading at around 310 euros on Tuesday.
Goldman Sachs analyst Richard Edwards noted positively that price discounts in Adidas' wholesale activities worldwide, excluding the Asia-Pacific region, had been decreasing since the second half of 2018, and that more and more new customers were being acquired.
Shares in Beiersdorf fell by 1.49 percent after a negative analyst rating. The German consumer goods company was the biggest loser at the start of trading on Tuesday, followed by FMC parent company Fresenius, which saw shares fall 0.35 percent.
On Monday, French Bank Societe Generale downgraded Beiersdorf from "Hold" to "Sell" and lowered the price target to 99 euros. Analyst David Hayes expected sales of Beiersdorf's core brands Nivea and La Prairie to lose momentum in the second half of 2020. Shares in Beiersdorf were trading at around 106 euros on Tuesday.
The world's largest sugar producer, Suedzucker, announced on Tuesday that its sugar business in the third quarter of 2019 was still making losses, also caused by a much lower harvest in the unusually dry 2018 and 2019. Shares in Suedzucker listed in Germany's SDAX dropped by around 7 percent at early trading on Tuesday.
The euro was trading almost unchanged at 1.1139 dollars, increasing slightly by 0.01 percent on Tuesday morning.
