BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - German stocks fell sharply on Tuesday after the World Bank warned the risk from a more protracted pandemic and the World Health Organization cautioned that this is not the time for any country to take its foot off the pedal.
Meanwhile, Germany's exports declined at the sharpest pace since records began in 1950 due to the lockdown measures taken by economies across the globe, data published by Destatis revealed.
Exports decreased 31.1 percent year-on-year in April following a 7.7 percent drop in March. This was the biggest fall since the introduction of foreign trade statistics in 1950.
At the same time, imports decreased 21.6 percent annually after falling 4.4 percent a month ago. The last time imports went down that much was in July 2009 during the global financial crisis.
Consequently, the trade surplus declined to EUR 3.5 billion, the lowest since December 2000, from EUR 17.8 billion in the same period last year.
The benchmark DAX fell 254 points, or 1.98 percent, to 12,568 after closing 0.2 percent lower the previous day.
Banks paced the declines, with Commerzbank losing 7.8 percent and Deutsche Bank tumbling 6.1 percent.
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG was down 0.7 percent. The precision mechanical engineering company said it expects sales for the 2020/2021 financial year to be significantly down on the prior year's 2.35 billion euros.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX