After a strong start to the year, the Dax weakened only slightly on Thursday. He largely made up for his moderate losses at the start of trading by midday. Most recently, the leading index only fell 0.16 percent to 14,467.84 points. In the previous three days it had gained a good four percent and benefited from signs of easing inflationary pressure.

The MDax for medium-sized companies rose by 0.66 percent to 26,622.20 points on Thursday afternoon. The Eurozone leading index EuroStoxx 50 fell by 0.28 percent. Portfolio manager Thomas Altmann from QC Partners spoke of a "breather" that was "absolutely normal and healthy for the market".

Among the individual stocks in the Dax, Deutsche Telekom shares rose by 0.4 percent. They benefited from the fact that the subsidiary T-Mobile US surprisingly increased the number of its contract customers in the fourth quarter.

Lufthansa shares gained 1.0 percent in the MDax. They were buoyed by positive industry sentiment after low-cost carrier Ryanair raised its fiscal year targets. The German airline itself had raised its profit target as early as mid-December due to high demand for flights, and this again and again.

Synlab fell to a record low in the SDax, which one trader called "exaggerated". As Europe's largest laboratory operator announced on Wednesday evening, the Portuguese competition authority (AdC) has initiated proceedings against two subsidiaries.

Hugo Boss was up 1.6 percent. In addition to strong sales figures for the Next Group from Great Britain at Christmas time, the market also referred to share purchases by CEO Daniel Grieder in the amount of just over one million euros.

Analysts' ratings were also moving. ProSiebenSat.1 was downgraded from "neutral" to "underperform" by Bank of America and the price target was capped from EUR 9.00 to EUR 7.10. The share lost 1.5 percent.