DAX Gains Amidst Easing Inflation

(RTTNews) - A more-than-expected decline in inflation in the Euro Area for the month of November helped the DAX extend gains and cross the 16,200 level for the first time since early August. Expectations of rate cuts by ECB boosted sentiment amidst data showing a more-than-expected jump in retail sales as well as unemployment rate in Germany.

Data released just a while ago showed inflation rate in the Euro Area declining to 2.4 percent year-on-year in November, from 2.9 percent in the previous month and much lower than the market consensus of 2.7 percent.

The forty-scrip DAX index is currently trading at 16,207.42, having gained 0.28 percent on an overnight basis. The day's trading ranged between a high of 16,219.66 and a low of 16,173.29. The index had closed at 16,162.60 on the previous day.

In the 40-scrip index, only 15 are currently trading in the overnight negative zone.

Deutsche Bank tops with gains of 1.9 percent. Henkel and Fresenius have both gained more than 1 percent, whereas RWE, SAP, Munchener Ruck and Heidelberg Materials have added more than half a percent.

Continental is the greatest laggard with a decline of 1.6 percent. Sartorius also slipped more than 1 percent. BASF, Volkswagen, Porsche Automobil Holding, Covestro and MTU Aero Engines have all declined more than half a percent.

The EUR/USD pair has slipped more than half percent to 1.0912 as the Dollar firmed up before the release of the PCE data from the U.S. The Dollar Index meanwhile gained almost half a percent as it traded at 103.25.

Diverging from the trend of hardening in bond yields globally, German bond yields eased 0.27 percent. The same is at 2.4185 percent versus 2.4250 at the previous close.