FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - After the recent record high of 20,461 points at the beginning of the week, the DAX has hardly moved at all. This is unlikely to change for the time being on Thursday: Broker IG assessed the leading German index 14 points lower than the previous evening at 20,385 points. After an annual gain of around 22 percent, investors are sitting on a generous cushion that needs to be defended.

In the early afternoon, however, the ECB's interest rate decision and the subsequent press conference breathed some life back into the DAX. The European Central Bank is likely to cut its key interest rates again - economists predominantly expect a discount of 0.25 percentage points. The ECB began the interest rate turnaround in June and has since turned the wheel twice more./ag/men