BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - German stocks fell on Friday as rising concerns about Middle East tensions following fresh attacks by Houthis in Saudi Arabia, and uncertainty about returns on massive AI investments hurt sentiment.
Oil prices climbed higher amid persisting tensions in the Middle East. Brent crude front-month futures climbed to $114.72 a barrel, before easing to around $114.33, still up more than 1% from previous close.
The benchmark DAX was down 237.50 points or 0.94% at 25,134.25 nearly half an hour past noon.
MTU Aero Engines dropped nearly 5%. Deutsche Telekom and Deutsche Boerse both drifted down by about 2.8%.
Merck, Adidas, Allianz, SAP and Hannover RE lost 1.6%- 2%. Deutsche Bank shed 1.1%, while Hochtief, Continental, Siemens Energy, Commerzbank and RWE slipped by 0.4%-0.7%.
Fresenius Medical Care and Beiersdorf moved up 1.7% and 1.6%, respectively. Heidelberg Materials, E.ON, BASF, Brenntag, BMW, Rheinmetall and Zalando gained 0.6%-1%.
In economic news, Germany's Manufacturing PMI rose to 54.2 in October from 53.9 in September, exceeding market expectations of 53.5, preliminary estimates from S&P Global showed. This marked a two-month high and signalled a continued improvement in manufacturing business conditions. However, manufacturing output growth eased, with the output index falling to 55.1 from 56.0, its lowest level in three months.
Germany's Services PMI fell to 51.7 in October from 52.9 in September, missing market expectations of 52.5, according to preliminary data.
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