Before the key interest rate decision by the US Federal Reserve, the Dax made up for a large part of its previous day's losses on Wednesday. With the tailwind from the friendly US stock exchanges, the leading German index increased its gains by 0.76 percent to 12,767.15 points by the end of trading.
The stock exchange barometer quickly put up with the slide of more than one percent in the morning. Investors initially reacted nervously to the partial mobilization in Russia, but then quickly recovered.
The MDax also made it into the profit zone in the middle of the week - the index of medium-sized companies increased by 0.62 percent to 23,908.00 points.
After the initial shock of the news from Russia, the dominant topic on the market remained monetary policy in the USA. The currency guardians of the US Federal Reserve wanted to announce their interest rate decision just a few hours after the stock exchange closed in Germany. This could also have an impact on further price developments on the stock exchanges. Experts now consider a significant interest rate hike of another 0.75 percentage points by the US monetary authorities to be a foregone conclusion. According to traders, however, a fifth of market participants are now expecting an even larger rate hike of a full percentage point.
According to Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, 300,000 reservists are to be mobilized in Russia for the war in Ukraine. Shares in German armaments companies were once again driven by this news: Rheinmetall climbed as the MDax leader by more than nine percent, for Hensoldt in the SDax it went up by almost eleven percent.
Uniper shares fell sharply at times with a discount of almost 40 percent. It was already suspected, now it is certain: The ailing energy company will be nationalized as far as possible. The federal government will receive almost 99 percent of Uniper shares through a capital increase and the purchase of all shares from the previous Finnish majority owner Fortum.
However, the takeover price of EUR 1.70 per share fueled fears among the other investors that they would be stuck with even greater losses after the months of the slide in the shares. In the evening, Uniper shares went down around 25 percent at EUR 3.12. Since the turn of the year, the price loss has amounted to more than 90 percent.
In addition, there were still a few analyst voices moving on the market. At just under two percent, Deutsche Post shares were one of the biggest losers in the Dax. Goldman Sachs expert Patrick Creuset gave up his previous buy recommendation. He expects a multi-year downward cycle in the logistics sector.
In the MDax, two positive studies and higher price targets by the US banks JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs drove the Scout24 course - the papers of the online portal operator rose by almost four percent.
In Europe, too, market participants were more courageous before the Fed's decision: the Eurozone's leading index, the EuroStoxx 50, climbed by 0.71 percent to 3491.87 points. The signs were also positive on the leading stock exchanges in Paris and London. In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial rose by around half a percent at the close of the European stock market.
The euro, which has come under pressure from renewed tensions with Russia, was $0.9876 in evening trade. The European Central Bank (ECB) had previously set the reference rate at $0.9906 (Tuesday: $0.9986). The dollar had thus cost 1.0095 (1.0014) euros.
On the bond market, the current yield fell from 1.80 percent the previous day to 1.78 percent. The Rex pension index rose by 0.22 percent to 130.00 points. The Bund future climbed 0.27 percent to 141.22 points.
