The German share index Dax briefly made up for its initial losses on Monday.
Although disappointed hopes of less aggressive US interest rate hikes continued to have an impact and there were reports of Russian rocket attacks on a number of major Ukrainian cities, the leading German index just managed to break even in early trading.
A good hour after the start of the stock exchange, there was a drop of 0.17 percent to 12,251.91 points.
The M-Dax of medium-sized companies recently fell by 0.25 percent to 22,475.08 points.
The leading euro zone index, the Euro Stoxx 50, lost almost 0.7 percent.
After a promising start to October, dark clouds descended on the stock exchanges again in the middle of last week.
The recent recovery turned out to be a flash in the pan, said market observer Christian Henke from broker IG.
Irrespective of the current burdens, investment expert Henke emphasized that a statistically better stock exchange period is now beginning, with an otherwise usual autumn rally, which often lasts into November.
The beginning of the reporting season and the US inflation data on Thursday could provide important impetus.
Fraport at times brings up the rear in the M-Dax
On the company side, the agenda at the beginning of the week looked very clear.
The recently weak shares of Vantage Towers increased by almost two and a half percent in view of hopes for other interested parties and were thus among the best values in the MDax.
A trader referred to a report by the Bloomberg news agency, which, citing insiders, states that both American Tower and Cellnex are now considering entering the bidding process for the Vodafone subsidiary.
Otherwise, analyst statements caused price swings.
The papers of the diagnostics specialist Qiagen and the dialysis specialist Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) lost four and three percent in view of the canceled buy recommendations of the investment bank Oddo BHF and the analysis house Jefferies, which means they occupy the last places in the Dax.
The fact that Hauck Aufhäuser Investment Banking Puma SE is no longer recommended for purchase caused the sporting goods manufacturer to drop in price by more than two percent.
M-Dax tail light was Fraport with a minus of more than three percent.
Jefferies took up the observation of the airport operator with the investment recommendation "Underperform", with which the analysts assume price losses over a twelve-month period.