DAX Recoups Early Losses; Deutsche Post Shares Up 3%

(RTTNews) - German shares fell slightly on Wednesday as investors react to more earnings and the continuous slide in oil, which hovers around three-month lows.

Encouraging data on Eurozone private sector activity, an in-line report on Eurozone retail sales and positive earnings updates from European banks such as HSBC, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale and ING helped to limit the downside to some extent.

The benchmark DAX was marginally lower at 10,143 in late opening deals after hitting as low as 10,092 earlier in the session.

BMW and Volkswagen lost about 1 percent each after unveiling their U.S. sales figures for July.

Publisher Axel Springer dropped 2.5 percent after cutting its 2016 sales guidance.

Continental shares declined half a percent. The auto parts and tyre maker said it is bracing for weaker car production worldwide in the second half following the Brexit vote in June's EU referendum.

Industrial robot maker Kuka also edged down half a percent after its first-half profit fell 27 percent from a year earlier.

Postal and logistics firm Deutsche Post rallied 3 percent on reporting a jump in quarterly profit despite lower revenue.

Lender Commerzbank inched up 0.1 percent while rival Deutsche Bank gained about 1 percent.

In economic releases, the euro area private sector expanded more than estimated in July, final survey data from Markit showed with the final composite output index rising to a 6-month high of 53.2 in July from 53.1 in June. According to the flash estimate, the index fell to 52.9.

Overall growth was primarily driven by an accelerated rate of output expansion in Germany. While rates of growth moderated in Italy and Spain, France continued to hover around the stagnation mark.

Another report from Eurostat showed that Eurozone retail sales remained flat as expected in June. Sales remained stable in June from May, when it climbed 0.4 percent. On an annual basis, retail sales growth held steady at 1.6 percent in June.