The corona crisis and international tensions have given the German stock market a bad start to May. The Dax closed 3.64 percent lower at just over 10,467 points. The MDax of medium-sized companies lost 2.66 percent and closed at around 22,431 points.
The main reason was a fear of a resurgence of the US-China trade dispute. US President Donald Trump on Friday reiterated claims that the pandemic may have originated in a Chinese laboratory. Trump also threatened new punitive tariffs. China rejected the accusations.
MTU and Thyssenkrupp were the final lights
In addition, persistent concerns about the economic consequences of the Corona crisis weighed on stock prices. In the Dax, all stocks closed in negative territory. The papers of the engine manufacturer MTU were particularly hard hit, which slumped by more than nine percent. In mDax, Thyssenkrupp lost more than 14 percent.
The slide in the Dax’s share price has fallen to just under 27 percent since the stock market crash in mid-March. In the wake of the crash in February and March, the German stock market barometer had lost almost 40 percent at times. (See an overview of the fastest stock market crash in history here.)
The euro zone’s benchmark EuroStoxx 50 index slumped 3.81 percent to 2816. The FTSE 100 in London, on the other hand, gave way only slightly, anticipating the negative stock market sentiment on Friday, when the other major European trading venues were closed for the holidays.
