Investing.com – Germany stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Chemicals and Utilities sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Frankfurt, the DAX rose 1.11%, while the MDAX index climbed 0.01%, and the TecDAX index added 0.70%.
The best performers of the session on the DAX were Fresenius SE & Co KGAA O.N. (XETRA:FREG), which rose 2.69% or 1.490 points to trade at 56.790 at the close. Meanwhile, Bayer AG NA (XETRA:BAYGN) added 2.28% or 2.850 points to end at 128.050 and Deutsche Boerse NA O.N. (XETRA:DB1Gn) was up 2.23% or 1.610 points to 73.800 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Deutsche Bank AG NA O.N. (XETRA:DBKGn), which fell 1.79% or 0.495 points to trade at 27.180 at the close. Infineon Technologies AG NA O.N. (XETRA:IFXGn) declined 1.00% or 0.115 points to end at 11.410 and SAP AG O.N. (XETRA:SAPG) was down 0.64% or 0.410 points to 64.100.
The top performers on the MDAX were Wincor Nixdorf O.N. (XETRA:WING) which rose 2.54% to 37.120, Salzgitter AG O.N. (XETRA:SZGG) which was up 1.44% to settle at 32.470 and Aurubis AG (XETRA:NAFG) which gained 1.41% to close at 52.440.
The worst performers were Bilfinger SE O.N. (XETRA:GBFG) which was down 14.06% to 32.220 in late trade, Gagfah SA Nom. (XETRA:GFJG) which lost 4.85% to settle at 12.075 and Suedzucker Mannheim Ochsenfurt AG (XETRA:SZUG) which was down 4.13% to 15.200 at the close.
The top performers on the TecDAX were Adva Optical Networking SE (XETRA:ADAG) which rose 8.26% to 7.183, Stratec Biomedical (XETRA:SBSG) which was up 3.01% to settle at 46.870 and LPKF Laser & Electronics (XETRA:LPKG) which gained 2.71% to close at 8.368.
The worst performers were Aixtron SE NA O.N. (XETRA:AIXGn) which was down 2.32% to 6.618 in late trade, PSI AG F.Pr.U.Sys. NA (XETRA:PSAGn) which lost 2.06% to settle at 10.445 and Xing AG (XETRA:OBCGn) which was down 1.88% to 143.900 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange by 387 to 353 and 38 ended unchanged.
Shares in Bilfinger SE O.N. (XETRA:GBFG) fell to 5-year lows; down 14.06% or 5.270 to 32.220. Shares in Gagfah SA Nom. (XETRA:GFJG) fell to 52-week lows; losing 4.85% or 0.615 to 12.075. Shares in Adva Optical Networking SE (XETRA:ADAG) rose to 3-years highs; rising 8.26% or 0.548 to 7.183.
The DAX volatility index, which measures the implied volatility of DAX options, was down 4.10% to 24.34.
Gold for August delivery was up 1.95% or 22.90 to $1199.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.50% or 0.30 to hit $60.63 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.41% or 0.27 to trade at $64.14 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.52% to 1.1398, while EUR/GBP rose 0.24% to 0.7177.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.45% at 94.06.