FRANKFURT/LONDON (dpa-AFX) - BASF and Johnson Matthey set the positive tone in the European chemicals sector on Wednesday. BASF shares benefited from analysts' optimistic assessments, while Johnson Matthey's sale of its medical device components business was well received. The British company will sell it to the financial investor Montagu for 550 million pounds and intends to use part of the proceeds for share buybacks. This prospect boosted the share price.

BASF was the best performer in the slightly higher Dax, rising 2.1 percent to 51.67 euros. They thus continued their recent rally, which has given investors a share price increase of more than a fifth in the past two months. Since the beginning of the year, BASF has gained six percent, which means that although it still lags somewhat behind the leading German index, it is in a better position compared to Europe's chemical sector.

"It's now or never", said analyst Sebastian Bray of Berenberg Bank in a study on BASF published on Wednesday and recommended the shares as a buy with a target price of 58 euros. There could be no better reason to buy than the beginning of the recovery from the worst sales slump in the European chemical industry for decades, said the expert. Not only Berenberg is becoming more confident about BASF, the Chinese investment bank Guotai Junan Securities also gave the Ludwigshafen-based company an "overweight" rating.

BASF's mid-week share price increase puts it at its highest level since the end of February last year. Johnson Matthey reached its highest level since May 2023 and recently gained 7.7 percent to 1839.00 pence. They were among the biggest gainers in the British FTSE 250 Index, which includes the shares of the UK's 250 largest companies after those in the leading barometer, the FTSE 100. The European chemicals sector led the Stoxx 600 sector table with a gain of 0.7 percent. Its record high from the beginning of 2022 is within sight./ajx/ag/men