Germay's benchmark DAX index declines sharply

The benchmark DAX index at Frankfurt Stock Exchange on Monday slumped by nearly 500 points and closed below 10,000 points.

The blue-chip index fell by nearly 700 points during its intraday trading and it eventually lost 476.09 points, or 4.7 percent. It closed at 9,648.43 points.

"All the bad things are coming together," said Robert Halver, head of the capital market analysis department of Baader Bank, citing the strong euro, the slowdown of the emerging economies, the discussion about the interest rate hikes in the United States. They are enough to bring the DAX down in the weak summer season, he added.

However, Halver is optimistic that the DAX index will recover and get higher by the end of the year. Since the interest rates are still low and equities are still a good investment tool.

All the 30 DAX member shares suffered losses. K+S Aktiengesellschaft, a standard and specialty fertilizers producer, topped the list of fallers. It plunged by 3.07 percent. HeidelbergCement AG lost 2.87 percent. The utilities company RWE AG St slipped by 2.75 percent. Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, a health care group slid by 2.69 percent. Daimler AG went down by 2.67 percent.

The turnover stood at 2.01 billion euros (around 2.29 billion U.S. dollars). Daimler AG was the most traded share of the day with a turnover of 139.13 million euros (around 158.37 million U.S. dollars).