FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The shares of SAP did not need much more on Monday to reach another record high and a market value of 200 billion euros. In the morning, the share price climbed 0.6 percent to just under 161 euros and was thus within striking distance of Thursday's record high of 162.42 euros.

At a price of just under 163 euros, the market value of the software group would break the 200 billion euro mark for the first time. The Walldorf-based company is currently the clear leader in the ranking of the most valuable stocks in the leading Dax index. Siemens follows in second and third place with 134 billion euros and Airbus with 118 billion euros.

SAP's recent increase in value is due to the share price rally in the new stock market year. From the annual low on January 5 to the record high on Thursday alone, the premium amounted to a good 20 percent. Investors had positioned themselves for good news in the run-up to the quarterly figures - and were rewarded. The Group wants to boost its high-growth artificial intelligence business with a major reorganization. This was welcomed by the market and lifted the share price to a historic high.

With a market capitalization of just under 200 billion euros, SAP ranks among the major companies in Europe, but not at the top: in the EuroStoxx 50, the leading eurozone index, the French luxury goods manufacturers LVMH and Hermes, the cosmetics giant L'Oreal and the Dutch semiconductor supplier ASML are ahead of SAP. Even ahead of LVMH, the Danish pharmaceutical group Novo Nordisk, which is listed in the Stoxx 50, is Europe's most valuable company.

Not to mention the tech giants from the USA: Microsoft, for example, is currently worth around 3 trillion US dollars, almost 14 times as much as SAP. Amazon, the Google holding company Alphabet and the chip manufacturer Nvidia also exceed SAP many times over in terms of market value.

The Volkswagen Group was once worth even more than SAP, although this was due to market speculation at the time. In the fall of 2008, so-called short sellers borrowed VW shares on a large scale and sold them on the market in anticipation of falling prices. However, this bet did not work out and the VW share price rose contrary to the speculators' expectations. They had to cover their short positions and buy back the shares they had sold on the market. The enormous demand drove the VW share price higher and higher in a short space of time, reaching over 1000 euros in the short term./bek/gl/men