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Stockbrokers in Frankfurt:

The stock market is making little progress on Friday

Photo: Arne Dedert / picture alliance / dpa

At the big expiry date on the futures exchanges, the

Dax

remained within sight of the psychologically important mark of 18,000 points.

The leading German index temporarily moved close to the record high it had reached the day before.

With the somewhat weaker opening of the US stock exchanges, the stock market barometer was still moderately up by 0.3 percent at 17,994 points in the afternoon.

The

MDax

, the index of medium-sized stocks, almost stood still at 26,272 points at about the same time.

The Eurozone leading index

EuroStoxx 50

rose by 0.4 percent to 5,013 points.

The high level of interest rates has noticeably strained the situation on the real estate market because many housing companies are heavily financed by loans.

The entire sector was under pressure before the weekend in the wake of

Vonovia's

balance sheet, as Germany's largest landlord frightened investors with a new dividend policy and changed key indicators.

Observers spoke of very complex innovations, and the paper slipped by eight percent at the end of the Dax.

Meanwhile, concerns about demand overshadowed the prices of chip stocks:

Infineon

papers, also one of the weakest DAX stocks, lost a good six percent.

According to a report by the Bloomberg news agency, the Chinese government is trying to encourage domestic electric car manufacturers to purchase more domestic electronic chips in order to strengthen China's semiconductor industry and reduce dependence on the West.

According to the final figures, Hellofresh

rose in price by more than ten percent in first place in the MDax.

Some investors may be relieved that the meal kit retailer did not come up with any further dramatic news.

Last week the price reached a record low due, among other things, to lost medium-term targets.

US stock market in reverse gear

The New York stock exchanges initially recorded losses on Friday at a generally high level.

Data from US industry was poorly received by investors.

In early trading, the leading index

Dow Jones Industrial

fell by 0.3 percent to 38,804 points.

This means he is heading for a narrow weekly gain of 0.2 percent.

The market-wide

S&P 500

fell by 0.6 percent to 5,119 points.

Bitcoin is giving way

Bitcoin recently fell again and moved away from its recently reached record high.

The cryptocurrency was last quoted at around $67,000, around 9 percent lower than the day before.

The price of Bitcoin rose to a new record high over the course of the week.

This is primarily due to demand from institutional clients, who have recently been offered Bitcoin ETFs as a vehicle in the USA.

Oil prices in the red

Oil prices fell slightly on Friday.

For the time being, they were unable to continue the significant price gains of the past trading days.

Most recently, a barrel (159 liters) of North Sea Brent for delivery in May cost 85.26 US dollars, 16 cents less than the evening before.

The price for a barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for April delivery also fell slightly by 15 cents to $81.11.

Just before the weekend, oil prices were held back by recent dollar strength.

The US currency was able to gain in trade with other important currencies, which makes the raw material more expensive in countries outside the dollar area and slows down demand.

A forecast from the International Energy Agency (IEA) had previously given oil prices a significant boost.

The Paris-based agency, which advises major economies on energy issues, expects a supply deficit in the crude oil market this year.

The reason is the production restrictions of the OPEC+ oil network.

Oil prices have risen significantly on a weekly basis.

Brent crude oil has risen in price by more than three dollars per barrel since Monday.

With news agencies