German stocks fell notably on Friday as investors fretted over rising coronavirus cases as well as fresh lockdown restrictions in Europe and parts of Asia.
The benchmark DAX dropped 125 points, or 0.90 percent, to 13,781 after closing 0.1 percent lower the previous day.
Salzgitter advanced 1.4 percent after the steel producer reported a pre-tax result of negative 200 million euros in financial year 2020, compared to negative 253.3 million euros in fiscal year 2019.
ProSiebenSat.1 surged 4.3 percent after its preliminary FY revenues and adjusted EBITDA exceeded expectations.
Siemens jumped 4.4 percent. The automation company said that the preliminary operating results for the first quarter of fiscal 2021 have exceeded market expectation.
Airline Lufthansa fell 2.3 percent as several regions in Europe witness very high rate of Covid-19 infections with almost all of Europe in the red zone.
On the data front, Germany's private sector growth slipped to a seven-month low in January as the Covid-19 control measures depressed activity, flash survey results from IHS Markit showed.
The flash composite output index fell to 50.8 in January from 52.0 in December. However, the reading was above the economists' forecast of 50.3.
Services activity dropped for the fourth straight month and manufacturing output remained in growth territory though it dipped to a five-month low.
The services Purchasing Managers' Index came in at 46.8, down from 47.0 in the prior month. The expected level was 45.3.
At the same time, the manufacturing PMI dropped to a 4-month low of 57.0 from 58.3 in December, but was above the forecast of 57.5.
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