At the start of the week, the German stock market was unable to maintain the initially clear gains and in the afternoon crumbled to close to the level of Friday's close.

Initially, good specifications from the Asian stock exchanges and fresh economic data from Germany provided positive impetus.

The Dax was quoted in the afternoon 0.07 percent higher at 15,555.70 points.

On Friday, the leading German index had lost around 0.6 percent and on a weekly basis around 0.8 percent.

The M-Dax of the medium-sized stocks rose on Monday by 0.18 percent to 35,209.05 points.

The leading Eurozone index Euro Stoxx 50 gained around 0.5 percent.

The German retail sector increased its sales in June compared to the previous month in real terms (price-adjusted) by 4.2 percent.

Analysts had only expected growth of 2.0 percent on average.

The Federal Statistical Office also revised the real increase in May to 4.6 percent upwards.

Volkswagen's preferred shares also benefited from a positive analyst study.

"The VW Group should also benefit from its premium brands and a good financial services business in the further course of the year," believes DZ Bank analyst Michael Punzet.

In addition, he sees economies of scale for the Wolfsburg-based company when it comes to electromobility and upgraded the VW preferences from “Hold” to “Buy” due to their price potential.

A new attempt at a merger between Deutsche Wohnen and Vonovia was particularly well received by the bidder's shares.

Vonovia's papers rose by 1.4 percent.

Those from Deutsche Wohnen, with a slight increase of 0.2 percent to 52.76 euros, approached the Vonovia offer, which had increased to 53 (previously 52) euros.

Vonovia wants to acquire at least half of the shares again, but failed at this threshold in the most recent attempt.

Alliance under pressure

The Allianz shares, on the other hand, came under massive selling pressure at minus 6.8 percent due to the threat of special charges and were thus clearly at the bottom of the Dax.

After lawsuits and an investigation by the SEC, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) has now launched an investigation into the so-called Structured Alpha Fund, the insurance company said.

According to traders, this creates greater uncertainty among investors.

The rally initiated at Fuchs Petrolub on Friday as a result of increased annual targets continued on Monday after a positive comment from analysts.

As one of the best MDax values, the lubricant manufacturer's papers recently climbed 2.6 percent.

At their peak, they reached their highest level since the beginning of May.

With the shares of Flatexdegiro, which were still at a record high four weeks ago, investors cashed in on a large scale.

The price fell by more than 13 percent and reached its lowest level since April, although the online broker sees itself on course for its annual targets after the first half of the year.

In the morning, voices spread among analysts that customer growth has recently not quite met the high expectations.

The automotive and industrial supplier Stabilus benefited in the third quarter of the financial year from the ongoing economic recovery and increased sales and earnings significantly.

The company was therefore somewhat more confident for the current financial year (to the end of September) and raised the lower end of its forecast.

The Stabilus papers recently lost 2.0 percent.

The euro last cost 1.1885 US dollars. The European Central Bank (ECB) set the reference rate on Friday at $ 1.1891. On the bond market, the current yield rose from minus 0.24 percent to minus 0.23 percent. The Rex bond index fell 0.15 percent to 146.12 points. The Bund future fell by 0.07 percent to 176.45 points.