German shares down at start of trading on Friday

BERLIN, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- German shares were down at the start of trading on Friday, with the benchmark DAX index losing 81.87 points, or 0.52 percent, opening at 15,562.1 points.

The biggest winner among Germany's 40 largest listed companies was healthcare company Siemens Healthineers, increasing by 0.84 percent, followed by plastic specialist Covestro with 0.50 percent and technology company Siemens Energy with 0.29 percent.

Shares of Adidas fell by 3.63 percent. The German sportswear manufacturer was the biggest loser at the start of trading on Friday after U.S. competitor Nike lowered its sales forecast.

Prices of residential property in the second quarter grew by 3.7 percent on the previous quarter and were even up 10.9 percent year-on-year, the largest price increase since the beginning of the time series in 2000, the country's Federal Statistical Office announced on Friday.

New orders in Germany's main construction industry in July 2021 grew by 2.6 percent on the previous month and were even up 4.9 percent year-on-year, the office announced on Friday.

The yield on German ten-year bonds increased 0.0255 percentage points to minus 0.2325 percent and the euro was trading almost unchanged at 1.1728 U.S. dollars, increasing by 0.01 percent on Friday morning.