On Maundy Thursday, the Dax added another high to its recent record series during trading - and closed only slightly changed. Ultimately, the leading German index gained 0.08 percent to 18,492.49 points. For the shortened Holy Week, the Dax recorded a gain of around 1.6 percent. The most important stock market barometer closed the month of March with a gain of 4.6 percent and the first quarter with an increase of 10.4 percent.
In contrast, the MDax of medium-sized companies fell by 0.18 percent to 27,043.04 points on Thursday. The MDax also lagged behind the DAX on a weekly, monthly and especially quarterly basis (minus 0.4 percent).
Expectations of imminent interest rate cuts in the Eurozone and the USA, where the economy is in robust shape, were the decisive reasons for the recent Dax rally. In recent days, more and more investors have jumped on board so as not to miss the bull market. There have been no major profit-takings so far.
Some market observers had suspected that investors could cash in before Easter and play it safe, also because important price data from the USA will be published on Good Friday, to which share prices in this country can only react on Tuesday.
The European leading indices also moved little and recorded stable closing trends. The Eurozone leading index EuroStoxx 50 almost stagnated, as did the French Cac 40. The British FTSE 100 ended around 0.3 percent higher. At the end of Europe, the New York Dow Jones Industrial was practically at the previous day's level.
At the top of the DAX, Siemens Energy shares continued their strong run with a gain of 3.3 percent. In the first quarter, with a gain of 42 percent, they were the second best value in the leading index behind Rheinmetall's securities, which were driven by the arms boom (plus 82 percent). These increased by 1.8 percent, but remained below their record high from the previous day.
The DHL Group was in last place in the Dax with a discount of 1.4 percent. For the first time since 2017, Deutsche Bank removed its purchase recommendation for the logistics company's shares.
There were figures from Jungheinrich from the MDax. After a strong last year, the forklift manufacturer is looking optimistically towards the current and coming year. Shares rose 1.5 percent.
The shares of Energiekontor recorded price losses of almost 10 percent in the SDax of the smaller stocks. After a record year, the wind and solar park operator expects falling results for 2024. The outlook from diagnostics specialist Stratec was also not well received, with shares losing 5.2 percent.
The euro recently fell to $1.0799. The European Central Bank (ECB) set the reference rate at $1.0811 in the afternoon.
On the bond market, the current yield fell from 2.39 percent the day before to 2.37 percent. The Rex bond index rose by 0.03 percent to 125.30 points. The Bund future lost 0.04 percent to 133.31 points.
