The German market lost early gains and moved into negative territory in afternoon trading Monday. Friday's reassuring comments from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and firm cues from Asia/Pacific failed to sustain optimism.
Crude for October delivery is slipping $0.40 at $74.77 per barrel and gold is adding $0.9 at $1237.5 an ounce.
In economic news, Eurozone economic confidence rose to 101.8 in August from 101.1 in July, a monthly survey from the European Commission showed. The economic sentiment index remained above its long-term average and expected reading of 101.6. Consumer confidence improved to minus 11 in August from minus 14 last month. Confidence in services rose to 7 from prior month's level of 6. Retailers confidence remained unchanged at minus 4.
After an extraordinary policy board meeting, the Bank of Japan announced an expansion to its low-interest lending program, as it bids to stem the rise in the yen. At the same time, the bank also maintained its key interest rate at near-zero.
The DAX opened slightly higher at 5,973 and witnessed turbulent trading. The index dipped into negative territory in the afternoon session and is currently losing 0.34%.
Chipmaker Infineon Technologies, which has decided to sell its wireless solutions unit to Intel Inc., is declining 3.07%, thus topping the percentage losers. Steel giant ThyssenKrupp is retreating 1%.
Truck maker MAN is losing 1.49%, while car manufacturers Volkswagen, Bayerische Motoren Werke and Daimler are losing between 1.25% and 0.33%.
Among chemical companies, Linde is down 0.8% and Basf is slipping 0.5%. Bayer is adding 0.1%. Deutsche Bank is losing 0.4%, while Commerzbank is adding 0.4%.
Utility company E.ON is adding 0.78% and Fresenius Medical Care is gaining 0.42%. Lufthansa is gathering 0.35%. Business software maker SAP and detergent maker Henkel are each up 0.3%.
Overseas, most major Asian markets rallied to end the day notably higher. China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.61% and Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 1.76%. India's BSE Sensex ended the day modestly higher by 0.19%. In Australia, All Ordinaries gathered 1.79%.
In the U.S., futures indicate a slightly lower open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the Dow surged 1.7%, the Nasdaq rallied 1.6% and the S&P 500 rose 1.7%.
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