BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - German stocks were little changed on Friday as hopes of further stimulus offset investor concerns about the second wave of coronavirus infections in the region.
Surging coronavirus figures across Europe should serve as 'a wake-up call', Dr. Hans Kluge, regional director of The World Health Organization in Europe, said on Thursday.
The number of new cases had doubled in more than half of European member states in the past two weeks and we have a very serious situation unfolding before us, he added.
The benchmark DAX was marginally higher at 13,216 after declining 0.4 percent on Thursday.
Shares of Covestro surged nearly 7 percent after Bloomberg reported that buyout firm Apollo Global Management Inc. is exploring a takeover of the specialty chemicals company.
A worsening second wave of coronavirus cases in the region weighed on the travel sector. Lufthansa tumbled 3.3 percent and Fraport slumped 4.8 percent.
In economic releases, German producer prices declined at the slowest pace in five months in August, preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office showed.
Producer prices declined 1.2 percent year-on-year following a 1.7 percent fall in July. Economists had expected a 1.4 percent decrease. The pace of decline was the weakest since March, when prices fell 0.8 percent.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX