Local equities gained on the last trading day of June, with the blue-chip DAX index up 1.43% at Tuesday's closing, as the market assessed Germany's latest inflation figures and awaited updates on the anticipated US-Iran talks in Qatar.
Preliminary data from Destatis showed German annual inflation eased to 2.3% in June, against the previous and expected 2.6%. The core annual inflation rate, which excludes food and energy prices, remained unchanged at 2.5%.
"Looking ahead, as today marks the last day of the government's tax rebate on fuel, inflation should accelerate again next month, even if global energy prices have come down. Beyond the fiscal stimulus reversal, we still expect some knock-on effects from higher energy prices on transportation costs, food prices and other industrial products over the coming months," ING said.
On the jobs front, the federal agency Bundesagentur für Arbeit reported that Germany's unemployment rate remained at 6.3% in June, as expected. The number of unemployed individuals in the country declined by 1,000, compared with the 12,000 drop earlier.
On the corporate side, Siemens Energy (ENR.F) rose to the top of the DAX, climbing 5.68%, as BofA Global Research increased its earnings assumptions for the German energy technology company and raised the price objective on the buy-rated stock to 260 euros from 250 euros.
"We expect ENR to report a solid Q3. Our group order [estimate] is 'only' +4% vs cons (BofAe EUR17.6bn vs cons EUR17.0bn) but we see double-digit upside in Gas (EUR9.0bn vs EUR7.4bn) and Grid (EUR6.0bn vs EUR5.4bn), offset by Gamesa weakness given no offshore orders (EUR1.2bn vs EUR3.0bn); we would expect investors to focus on the Gas & Grid strength," BofA wrote.
Meanwhile, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, or Bafin, concluded its audit of Mutares' (MUX.F) full-year 2023 financial statements with zero objections. The private equity company noted that a single missing disclosure regarding the remaining term of certain receivables was already corrected in subsequent filings.
Separately, Mutares' portfolio company Amaneos finalized the acquisition of automotive supplier Magna's European automotive lighting business through its subsidiary, Light Mobility Solution. Mutares was up 0.37% on Xetra.