Concerns about a further escalation of the Ukraine crisis determined events on the European stock exchanges. Investors pulled out of stocks en masse on Monday amid fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The leading German index dax temporarily slipped by 3.7 percent to 14,844 points. Recent reports that Russia will present concrete proposals to de-escalate the crisis eased the market somewhat. In afternoon trading, the Dax made up for some of the losses and closed two percent lower at 15,114 points. The threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine is hitting markets at a time when they are already under particular pressure. Investors have been very unsettled since an unexpectedly high US inflation rate triggered speculation about more aggressive interest rate hikes in the US last week.
In Europe, travel stocks came under selling pressure. The industry index slipped by up to four percent as some airlines suspended or were considering suspending flights to Ukraine. In the M-Dax, the Lufthansa share lost 3.3 percent, Fraport shares lost 3.1 percent, Tui shares fell by 3.5 percent.
With a discount of 3.5 percent, Deutsche Bank’s paper was one of the weakest values in the Dax. It paid tribute to their rally fueled by the prospect of rising interest rates. At Deutz, investors reacted disgruntled to the news that CEO Frank Hiller had been unanimously dismissed from the board by the supervisory board. The background to this are differences about how to deal with requirements for more women on executive boards. The shares of the engine manufacturer went down 4.7 percent in the S-Dax.
The papers of the Swiss specialty chemicals group Clariant, which fell by 16 percent in Zurich, also came into focus. The company postponed the publication of its business figures due to possible incorrect postings.
On Wall Street it closed Dow Jones 0.5 percent lower at 34,566 points. Here, the Cisco share burdened with minus 1.3 percent. According to the media, the network supplier has made a takeover bid for software manufacturer Splunk worth more than $20 billion. Splunk shares rose 9.1 percent.