Before the key interest rate decision by the European Central Bank (ECB) early Thursday afternoon, the Dax fell back to 12,918.80 points in the morning after a brief jump above 13,000 points.

Most economists expect the ECB to raise interest rates by 0.75 percentage points. Experts point to the extremely high inflation, which is now forcing the monetary authorities to act. In August, the annual inflation rate in the euro zone climbed to 9.1 percent, the highest since the euro was introduced.

The MDax of medium-sized stocks advanced by 0.55 percent to 25,132.59 points on Thursday. The Eurozone leading index EuroStoxx 50 was 0.2 percent higher.

Financial stocks were ahead in the Dax. Deutsche Bank gained 2.3 percent and thus recovered from their previous day's losses, as did Allianz SE with plus 1.1 percent. Commerzbank increased by 2.1 percent in the MDax. The bank was cautiously optimistic about the 2022 profit target.

ProSiebenSat.1 lost 1.9 percent. The US bank Morgan Stanley had downgraded the title of the media group to "Underweight".

The shares of the industrial group Thyssenkrupp, which had benefited from a report by a specialist portal on the stock exchange plans of the hydrogen subsidiary Nucera with a significant price increase in the middle of the week shortly before the end of trading, now fell by 2.3 percent.