BERLIN, March 23 (Xinhua) -- After losing around 35 percent in the last four weeks, German stocks opening at 8,536.33 points continued a downward spiral on Monday, with benchmark DAX index losing 392.62 points, or 4.4 percent.
The least decreasing company among Germany's 30 largest listed companies at the start of trading was German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom, with shares falling by 2.45 percent, followed by mail and logistics company Deutsche Post, which lost 3.31 percent, and pharmaceutical company Bayer 3.35 percent.
Shares in MTU Aero Engines fell by 6.69 percent. The German aircraft engine manufacturer was the biggest loser at the start of trading on Monday, after announcing suspended operations at several facilities in Europe due to the coronavirus crisis.
According to MTU Aero Engines, activities will be reduced by the end of the week in a "coordinated approach" and suspension will last three weeks.
The ifo Institute, or Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich based in Munich, said the coronavirus crisis could cause economic losses of more than half a trillion euros (535 billion U.S. dollars) and lead to more than a million job losses in Germany.
"The costs will probably exceed anything known from economic crises or natural disasters in Germany in recent decades," ifo President Clemens Fuest said on Monday.
On Monday, the yield on German ten-year bonds went down by 0.028 percentage points to minus 0.367 percent, while the euro traded unchanged at 1.0662 U.S. dollars.
