Price slide continues, Dax tests new annual low, cryptocurrency Bitcoin below 20,000 US dollars

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Stockbroker in Frankfurt:

The price slide continues on Friday

Photo: Boris Roessler / dpa

The price slide continues: For the Dax, things are going downhill at the start of the second half of the year.

The X-Dax as an indicator for the leading German index signaled a minus of 1 percent to 12,665 points on Friday shortly before the start of Xetra.

It's falling back towards its low for the year.

In March, the Dax had fallen to 12,650 points - now there is a risk of a setback to below the 12,600 point mark.

The low for the year at 12,438 points is therefore not far away, and Helaba believes that there is no longer any noteworthy technical support on the way there.

The Eurozone leading index EuroStoxx 50 is expected to be 0.9 percent weaker on Friday.

The balance of the Dax for the first half of the year is very weak at minus 19.5 percent.

At the beginning of January, it once again scratched the record high of November.

From the peak, it even fell by 21.5 percent, which means that it is in a bear market like the broader US index S&P 500.

"The first half of the year was the weakest for the Dax since 2008, and there has never been a weaker June at all," said a broker.

Wall Street also ended a historically weak first half of the year on Thursday.

"Recession concerns have the financial markets firmly in their grip. The high inflation rates and hawkish comments from various central bankers are keeping interest rate hikes high and with them economic concerns," Commerzbank said in the morning.

Bilfinger shares on Tradegate rose by 2.2 percent compared to the Xetra close.

Deutsche Bank started the rating with "Buy".

After its restructuring, the industrial service provider is about to enter a new phase of growth, it said.

DWS went further down with 2.8 percent.

Citigroup canceled the purchase vote for the fund company's shares.

US stock market historically weak

The US stock exchanges noticeably curbed their significant losses from early trading on Thursday.

In view of economic and inflation fears, however, the price losses for the first half of the year were higher than they had been in decades - for the broader S&P 500 it was the weakest development in the first six months since 1970. It was the worst for the Nasdaq 100 technology selection index Clipping since 2002.

Asia's markets under pressure

In the wake of renewed price losses on Wall Street, the Asian stock markets also slipped into the red.

The Japanese Nikkei index fell 1.8 percent on Friday to 25,926 points and the Shanghai stock exchange fell 0.5 percent to 3,381 points despite encouraging Chinese economic data.

The South Korean leading index temporarily fell 1.8 percent and was listed at 2291.49 points, the lowest it was a year and a half ago.

"Investors are concerned about the outlook for the US economy," said Shoichi Arisawa, senior analyst at brokerage firm IwaiCosmo.

Many stockbrokers fear that the Fed's drastic interest rate hikes will plunge the world's largest economy into a recession.

In China, the surprisingly strong increase in the barometer for the mood of purchasing managers from industry slowed the price decline.

It climbed to 51.7 points, back above the threshold signaling growth.

In addition, the government is providing the equivalent of 43 billion euros to secure the financing of important projects.

"This is more positive news," wrote analysts at investment bank Nomura.

"Beijing is still very likely to miss its growth target of 'about 5.5 percent'."

Bitcoin below $20,000

Investors are throwing bitcoin out of their vaults in search of safe havens.

The cyber currency fell 4.4 percent to an 11-day low of $19,293.

"The fear of rapid interest rate hikes in the fight against galloping inflation and the associated fears of recession remain the dominant theme on the market," said analyst Timo Emden from Emden Research.

This was compounded by worries surrounding crypto lender Celsius Network.

"If the descent accelerates, there is a risk of a slide to $14,000."

Oil prices fall

Oil prices eased in early trade on Friday.

In the morning, a barrel (159 liters) of North Sea Brent cost $108.29.

That was 74 cents less than the day before.

The price of a barrel of the US WTI variety fell by $1.01 to $104.75.

Fear of an economic downturn prevails on the financial markets, which is also having a negative impact on oil prices.

The background is concerns that the central banks could raise their interest rates too much in the fight against inflation and thus stall the economy.

The focus is on the US Federal Reserve, which intends to raise interest rates well beyond the growth and inflation-neutral area.

With news agencies