DAX futures: German index set to open in the red

The German DAX continues to flirt with the 10,000 point level – finishing out yesterday’s session up 1.22% – at 9,935 points.

HeidelbergCement, Wirecard and Merck proved to be the top performing German equities yesterday; while Deutsche Telekom, Lufthansa and Beisrsdorf were the worst performing.

Ultimately, this caps off a relatively consistent week for the German 30 benchmark, with the DAX registering gains during four out of the last five trading sessions.

In saying that, as of 6:26am (GMT+2), IG Markets data suggests that the DAX is poised to open approximately 2.39% or 242 points lower.

The DAX: a technical perspective

Examining the German benchmark’s recent performance from a technical perspective, Senior IG Market Analyst Joshua Mahony, yesterday wrote:

‘The DAX rally has taken the index above the 76.4% Fibonacci retracement, potentially pointing towards a continuation of the recent uptrend despite the break below 9524 and 9440 seen yesterday.’

In saying that, Mr Mahony ultimately concluded that:

‘We need to see a break through 10,119 to bring about a continuation signal which would negate the bearish signal that come yesterday.’

Adding to this technical viewpoint, DailyFx analyst Peter Hanks recently argued that:

‘Recent price action on the DAX 30 and other equity indices has displayed a degree of normalcy that the market has not enjoyed since mid-February. Consequently, technical breaks may require more time to materialize than they did in the last few weeks and charting the levels at play may create opportunities for a range of trading styles.’

US, European and Asian Pacific markets

Speaking to this ‘normalcy’ – like the DAX – other key European indices have continued to run higher in the last few days, with the French CAC, Swiss SMI and Italian FTSE MIB all registering modest gains on Tuesday.

The Swiss SMI was the standout performer here, rising 1.5% to finish out the session at the 9,311 point level.

And when Asian Pacific markets opened today, they also continued to trade higher, with the ASX 200 building on its recent gains and rising 1.79% by the afternoon; the Chinese CSI 300 also rose; though the Hang Seng traded choppily throughout the day, down by 0.92% as of 12:05 (GMT+8).

By comparison, US markets faced moderate selling pressure yesterday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Composite all recording losses.

At the time of writing, the global coronavirus case count stood at 858,669.