Germany shares higher at close of trade; DAX up 0.45%

Investing.com – Germany equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Construction , Software and Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Frankfurt, the DAX rose 0.45%, while the MDAX index climbed 0.12%, and the TecDAX index added 0.83%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the DAX were Heidelbergcement AG O.N. (DE: HEIG ), which rose 2.11% or 1.430 points to trade at 69.140 at the close. Fresenius SE & Co KGAA O.N. (DE: FREG ) added 1.85% or 0.840 points to end at 46.200 and Covestro AG (DE: 1COV ) was up 1.71% or 0.710 points to 42.250 in late trade.

Biggest losers included RWE AG ST O.N. (DE: RWEG ), which lost 1.28% or 0.295 points to trade at 22.775 in late trade. Continental AG O.N. (DE: CONG ) declined 0.99% or 1.25 points to end at 125.41 and Infineon Technologies AG NA O.N. (DE: IFXGn ) shed 0.84% or 0.128 points to 15.197.

The top performers on the MDAX were Evotec AG O.N. (DE: EVTG ) which rose 2.18% to 22.950, Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG (DE: PBBG ) which was up 2.15% to settle at 10.93 and Deutsche Wohnen AG (DE: DWNG ) which gained 1.97% to close at 37.220.

The worst performers were Aurubis AG (DE: NAFG ) which was down 7.95% to 37.850 in late trade, Prosiebensat 1 Media AG (DE: PSMGn ) which lost 4.76% to settle at 14.8000 and Deutsche Euroshop AG (DE: DEQGn ) which was down 4.56% to 25.520 at the close.

The top performers on the TecDAX were Nordex SE O.N. (DE: NDXG ) which rose 3.19% to 13.250, SMA Solar Technology AG (DE: S92G ) which was up 2.94% to settle at 23.780 and SLM Solutions Group AG (DE: AM3D ) which gained 2.69% to close at 10.70.

The worst performers were Siltronic AG (DE: WAFGn ) which was down 1.64% to 61.120 in late trade, Infineon Technologies AG NA O.N. (DE: IFXGn ) which lost 0.84% to settle at 15.197 and S&T AG (DE: SANT1 ) which was down 0.66% to 21.08 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 384 to 309 and 83 ended unchanged on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

The DAX volatility index , which measures the implied volatility of DAX options, was down 3.17% to 14.99 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.51% or 6.85 to $1343.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 2.01% or 1.03 to hit $52.17 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 1.87% or 1.12 to trade at $61.09 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.10% to 1.1276, while EUR/GBP fell 0.01% to 0.8893.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.06% at 97.032.