FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Following the Dax's recent return above the 24,000-point mark, investors are taking a breather this Friday. Two hours before the Xetra open, broker IG pegged the German benchmark index slightly lower at 24,145 points. With a weekly gain of 1.4 percent, the index is on track for its third consecutive week of growth. Despite a recovery of more than eight percent since the end of March, the Dax remains roughly four and a half percent below its late February level, prior to the outbreak of the Iran war.
With no new headwinds emerging from the Iran conflict ahead of the weekend, there is still no sign that investors are willing to lock in profits. "The market wants to go higher," Barclays analyst Emmanuel Cau wrote this morning. He noted that the ceasefire has bolstered investor sentiment, while the "fear of missing out" has propelled several US indices to new record highs.
However, the expert pointed out that the war is not yet over and believes a significant amount of optimism is already priced in. After all, oil prices and bond yields have yet to reverse their recent spikes, and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz remains in place. "Our impression is that the easy gains are now behind us," Cau suggested. For the rally to continue, he believes the war must actually come to an end./tih/zb
