German Market In Negative Territory

(RTTNews) - The German market is in negative territory on Friday, after factory orders declined more than expected in May as both domestic and foreign orders decreased from April. Trading was subdued as U.S. markets will be closed for the Independence Day.

New orders in manufacturing fell by seasonally adjusted 1.7 percent month-on-month in May, provisional data from Destatis showed. Economists had forecast a 1.1 percent fall in new orders after rising revised 3.4 percent in April.

Construction sector activity in Germany deteriorated in June at the sharpest pace in 15 months, led by a steep fall in new orders, prompting firms to reduce workforce, survey figures from Markit Economics showed.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is losing 0.24 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is falling 0.06 percent.

The DAX index is currently falling 0.09 percent.

Daimler reported strong growth in sales of Mercedes-Benz in the first half of the year. The stock is modestly down.

Volkswagen is fractionally lower. Sports-car maker Porsche, owned by the auto giant, Thursday said it increased its stake in engineering group Bertrandt AG by nearly four percentage points to about 29 percent.

Steel giant ThyssenKrupp is adding 1.5 percent. Airline Lufthansa is advancing around 1 percent.

Leg Immobilien is gaining 3.5 percent. The property investment company was raised to ''Buy'' from ''Hold'' at Deutsche Bank.

Other major markets in the region are also falling.

The Asian stocks rose broadly, after a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed that employment in the U.S. rose by much more than anticipated in the month of June. However, gains were muted amid the Independence Day holiday in the U.S.

Crude for August delivery is losing $0.21 to $103.85 per barrel, while gold is gaining $2.1 to $1322.7 a troy ounce.