BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - German stocks fell on Wednesday as oil prices climbed higher amid fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East after U.S. forces destroyed Iranian tankers and Tehran retaliated by launching missile strikes on Jordon.
Also, investors seemed reluctant to indulge in any significant buying ahead of the European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement due on Thursday. The ECB is widely expected to raise its interest rate by a quarter percentage point.
Brent crude futures climbed to $100.49 a barrel, gaining about 2.6%. WTI crude oil futures rose to $95.09 a barrel, gaining about 2.3%.
Meanwhile, the yield on Germany's 10-year bond rose to 3.408%, hovering around 52-week high.
The benchmark DAX was down 216.57 points or 0.83% at 25,776.35 nearly half an hour before noon.
Rheinmetall dropped 3.6%. Siemens fell 2.7%, while Merck shed about 2.2%. Beiersdorf drifted down 1.6% following a rating downgrade by Deutsche Bank.
Heidelberg Materials, Deutsche Boerse, MTU Aero Engines, Daimler Truck Holding, Deutsche Bank, Siemens Energy, Continental and Allianz lost 1.4%-2%.
Zalando, Henkel, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Deutsche Post, Scout24, Munich RE, Gea Group, BMW, Infineon Technologies, Commerzbank and Qiagen shed 0.5%-1.1%.
SAP climbed 2.3% and RWE advanced nearly 2%, while E.ON moved up nearly 1%. BASF and Deutsche Telekom moved modestly higher.
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