Stabilized the day before, the Dax is already down again on Wednesday. In the first hour after the Xetra opening, the leading German index lost 0.91 percent to 12,754.09 points. The MDax of medium-sized stocks fell in early Wednesday trading by 0.94 percent to 24,651.99 points and the eurozone leading index EuroStoxx 50 was 0.9 percent lower.

Tension among market participants is increasing one day before the European Central Bank (ECB) interest rate decision. Market observers expect interest rates to be raised by 0.75 percentage points to contain the high inflation in the euro zone.

"Monetary policy wants less growth in order to bring inflation back to two percent, and governments in Europe have to take into account the fact that it is becoming increasingly likely that no gas will come from Russia at all," explained analyst Jochen Stanzl from broker CMC Marktes . "There is a high probability that the possibility of a soft landing for Europe's economy will result in a real emergency stop."

In the Dax, the papers of the consumer goods manufacturer Henkel lost 1.5 percent on Wednesday. Warburg Research canceled the buy recommendation. The prospects for the adhesives division were gloomy, it said. Allianz SE fell 1.7 percent after a downgrade by Morgan Stanley.

For the ailing supplier Uniper, the downturn in the gas crisis continued with a record low. Most recently, the titles at the MDax end posted a minus of nine percent. The shares of the energy technology group Siemens Energy, which is tapping the capital market for the planned complete takeover of its wind power subsidiary Gamesa, fell by 5.9 percent.

Lufthansa gained 1.3 percent. Kühne Holding wants to increase its stake in the airline. Shares in the insurer Talanx rose by 1.1 percent following a buy recommendation from HSBC.

The shares of the carbon specialist SGL Carbon also went up by almost ten percent after an increase in the outlook. The titles will be listed again in the SDax small-cap index from September 19th.