FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Rheinmetall shares came under pressure on Wednesday amid a generally gloomy environment for defense stocks. In the afternoon, the shares extended their losses as the DAX laggard, at times falling more than four percent. At their daily low, they were back just below the 21-day line at €1,569. The day before, they had attempted to break above this level again.
Defense stocks suffered once again on Wednesday against the backdrop of a possible end to the war in Ukraine, with Hensoldt and Renk, the other two German stocks in the sector, also recording price losses of up to 3.7 percent. In addition, shares in naval shipbuilder TKMS, which will soon be promoted to the MDAX, lost more than three percent.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks about possible elections during wartime. This is seen primarily as a move against US President Donald Trump, as the two disagree on key issues such as security guarantees and territories in talks about a peace plan. According to reports, Zelensky was thus able to accommodate the White House on another point.
During the course of the day, Bloomberg news agency added another report on Rheinmetall. Citing sources, it said that Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger was making a new attempt to take over parts of its competitor KNDS's business with the aim of creating a European market leader in land defense. The possibilities are said to include the acquisition of a significant stake in the group, which was formed from a German-French merger of Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Nexter./tih/bek/jha/
