FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - A downgrade to "underperform" from "neutral" by Bank of America (Bofa) weighed on Commerzbank shares on Friday morning. They fell on the trading platform Tradegate compared to the Xetra closing by 0.1 percent to 9.91 euros, while the Dax showed moderate opening gains.

Bofa experts see no more room for maneuver for the share price after the price rally of recent months. Admittedly, they raised their earnings expectations for 2023 somewhat, as they now expect lower risk provisioning by the bank than before. However, they also assume that net interest income has peaked.

Like other financial institutions, Commerzbank is also benefiting strongly from the rise in key interest rates. This helped the traditional deposit and lending business to gain fresh momentum after years of flat interest rates. In the meantime, however, there are signs that the rise in key interest rates is coming to an end, as inflation is showing slight signs of easing.

In addition, the securities of Commerzbank, which is still partly nationalized, have already risen sharply. Since the end of 2020, their price has almost doubled./mis/jha/