After the sell-off at the beginning of the week, Dax investors remain cautious.
The leading German index fell 0.3 percent to 15,072 points at the opening on Tuesday, but then turned positive in the first few minutes of trading.
The growing threat of war in Ukraine is hitting the market at a sore point, said analyst Jochen Stanzl from the trading company CMC Markets.
"The energy crisis in Europe could be exacerbated by a war in the region, since Russia is a member of OPEC plus." Since Ukraine is considered Europe's breadbasket, supply shortages could also fuel the already high food inflation.
IPO of Vulcan Energy
In the turbulent environment, Australian startup Vulcan Energy ventured into the German Stock Exchange with a dual listing.
The shares made their debut on the Frankfurt trading floor at EUR 5.65.
The company wants to attract investors with its multi-billion dollar plans and plans to extract the raw material lithium from thermal water deep in the earth, which is important for electric car batteries.
Gold is getting more expensive
Meanwhile, the price of a troy ounce (around 31.1 grams) of gold rose to $1,879 at times.
This marked the highest level since June 2021.
The price of gold has risen by around 50 dollars since last Friday, and shortly before the turn of the year the precious metal had cost around 100 dollars less.
The background is the tensions on the Ukrainian-Russian border.
In uncertain times, market participants are increasingly targeting real assets such as gold, while riskier assets such as stocks tend to lose value.
However, the precious metal is being slowed down by rising capital market interest rates in many places, which make interest-free gold appear less lucrative compared to interest-bearing investments.
Added to this is the recently appreciating dollar, which represents an obstacle to demand from countries outside the dollar zone.
Gold is usually traded in American currency.