DE30 knocks out the 13,000-point barrier

• New trading week results in gains on European stock markets

• DE30 breaks out above 13,000 points

• BASF (BAS.DE) with a "buy" recommendation from BofA

The first trading session in Europe this week brings gains for major benchmarks. Germany's DE30 gains 1.3% and breaks above the psychological level of 13,000 points, France's FRA40 gains 1.5%, and Poland's W20 jumps 2.25%. Today's macro calendar is empty, but investors' attention is focused on the publication of US company results.

DE30 index quotes, H4 interval. From a technical point of view, the German blue chip benchmark has knocked out the psychological resistance at the level of 13,000 points and opened the way to the upper limit of the downtrend (red dashed line). Currently, the broken out level of 13,000 points and the zone of the 100-period exponential moving average (purple curve) can be considered local supports. Source: xStation 5

News from companies:

• The shares of Siemens AG (SIE.DE) and Deutsche Post (DPW.DE) are gaining today following news of another tranche of repurchased own shares.

• Covestro (1COV.DE) shares are doing well, reacting to the company's CFO's words. Thanks to the projected recovery in China after the blockades caused by the Covid-19 virus, EBITDA levels in the second quarter are expected to be at the upper end of the forecast range of 430 to 560 million euros, Boersen-Zeitung revealed. The previous consensus estimate was €500 million. Many experts expect fairly solid figures for the chemical sector in the second quarter, which will, however, depend on the situation in the European gas market and inflation.

Analyst activity:

BofA raised its outlook on BASF (BAS.DE) shares to "buy" from "underperform" in its sector analysis. Target price set at €50 per share.

UBS lowered its recommendation for Bechtle (BC8.DE) from "buy" to "netural." Target price lowered from €64 to €40.

The most active stocks in the DAX index (DE30). Source: Bloomberg