Germany's DAX Index dropped. ThyssenKrupp AG, Bayer AG and Deutsche Lufthansa AG led the decline.
The benchmark DAX lost 36.63, or 0.6 percent, to 6247.56 as of 3:54 p.m. in Frankfurt, after rising as much as 0.3 percent earlier.
The HDAX Index of the country's 110 biggest companies fell 23.06, or 0.7 percent, to 3206,41.
``As sentiment and expectations rise with the good earnings figures we
have seen so far the air is getting thinner,'' said Markus Reinwand, an
equity strategist at Helaba Trust in Frankfurt. ``It is getting more
difficult to come up with new fuel for the rally.''
ThyssenKrupp, Germany's largest steelmaker, dropped 92 cents, or 3
percent, to 29.9 euros. The stock had gained 2.8 percent on takeover
speculation yesterday and is still up 13 percent since the start of the
month.
Bayer, Germany's biggest drugmaker, declined 80 cents, or 2 percent, to 39.61 euros.
Lufthansa fell 37 cents, or 2.1 percent, to 17.65 euros. Deutsche Bank
AG lowered its recommendation for stock of Europe's second-largest
airline to ``hold'' from ``buy'' and raised its price estimate to 19
euros from 16.1 euros.
``We hope that the success of all group divisions does not mean that
the Aviation Group is back,'' Lars Slomka, an analyst at Deutsche Bank
in Frankfurt, said in a report. ``We continue to prefer a focus on the
airline core business as challenges remain high in this industry.''
Takeover Risk
Continental, the world's fourth-biggest tiremaker, slipped 1.37 euros,
or 1.6 percent, to 87.13 euros after Chief Executive Officer Manfred
Wennemer said he sees the risks of the world's fourth-largest tiremaker
being taken over by private equity or a competitor as ``very slim.''
MAN AG shares slid 43 cents, or 0.6 percent, to 70.01 euros after
climbing as much as 3.5 percent. Volkswagen AG, Europe's largest
carmaker, filed a request with German regulatory authorities to
increase its stake in the continent's third- largest truckmaker to as
much as 30 percent.
``We received a request for Volkswagen on Oct. 19 to increase its
stake,'' Irene Sewczyk, a spokewoman for the Bundeskartellamt, said in
a telephone interview today.
Volkswagen were unchanged at 77.2 euros after is said profit fell for
the first time in five quarters because of costs for eliminating German
jobs and a one-time pension payment linked to a new labor agreement.
The following stocks also rose or fell in Germany today. Stock symbols are in parentheses after the company names.
EOP Biodiesel AG (E2B GY) advanced 19 percent this week to 11.35 euros.
Biopetrol Industries AG (B2I GY) gained 12 percent to 9.15 euros.
CropEnergies AG (CE2 GY) rose 8.7 percent to 7.9 euros. Verbio AG (VBK
GY) added 0.8 percent to 15.94 euros.
Biofuel shares surged as Germany's lower house of parliament passed a
bill to set quotas to add fuels from organic sources to gasoline and
diesel to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and oil consumption yesterday.
The bill foresees that so-called bio-fuels will have to make up 4.4
percent of the diesel sold in Germany and 1.2 percent of its gasoline
from the start of next year. The figure will have to rise for both
fuels to 6.75 percent by 2010 and be at 8 percent until 2015.
Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE GY), Europe's largest phone company, added 30
cents, or 2.3 percent, to 13.5 euros, climbing the second day after
Sprint Nextel Corp., the third-largest U.S. mobile-phone services
provider, said yesterday it lost 188,000 customers in the third quarter
as users defected to competitors.
Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA is the country's fourth- largest
wireless operator. Credit Suisse Group analyst Justin Funnell estimates
that T-Mobile USA probably recruited 950,000 new customers in the
quarter through September, accelerating from an addition of 613,000
users in the previous three-month period. Deutsche Telekom is scheduled
to report earnings Nov. 9.
Girindus AG (GIR GY) fell 39 cents, or 7.2 percent, to 5.01 euros. The
maker of drug ingredients cut full-year estimates because of lower
sales of products for cosmetics.
MorphoSys AG (MOR GY) dropped 86 cents, or 1.7 percent, to 49.24 euros.
The biotechnology company said third-quarter profit fell 20 percent to
1.6 million euros, hurt by higher tax payments. Sales for the three
months ended Sept. 30 rose 47 percent to 12.5 million euros.
Mobilcom AG (MOB GY) advanced 27 cents, or 1.3 percent, to 20.99 euros.
Drillisch AG (DRI GY) increased its stake in Germany's second-largest
reseller of wireless services to 10.37 percent, Mobilcom said in a
statement distributed by Hugin.
Drillisch shares added 5 cents, or 0.9 percent, to 5.5 euros. The
Maintal, Germany-based company also resells mobile- phone services and
ranks behind Debitel AG and Mobilcom by customers.
MPC Muenchmeyer Petersen Capital AG (MPC GY) gained 56 cents, or 0.8
percent, to 69.56 euros. The financial-services company said nine-month
profit rose 1.3 percent to 32.4 million euros as revenue increased.
Sales advanced 12 percent to 160.3 million euros.
By Andreas Hippin, Bloomberg
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