German Stocks Decline; Volkswagen, Banking Shares Lead Retreat

Germany's benchmark DAX Index fell for a third day, led by Volkswagen AG after Der Spiegel reported that Porsche AG may delay raising its stake. Deutsche Bank AG led banking stocks lower.

The DAX Index declined 58.44, or 0.7 percent, to 7,791.05 at 10:03 a.m. in Frankfurt. DAX futures expiring in December lost 44, or 0.6 percent, to 7,838. The HDAX Index of the country's 110 biggest companies decreased 0.7 percent.

Volkswagen dropped 4.18 euros, or 2.2 percent, to 186.91 euros. Porsche, the biggest shareholder in Europe's biggest carmaker, may delay raising its stake to more than 50 percent, Der Spiegel reported. While Porsche has options that would make a purchase cheaper, Chief Financial Officer Holger Haerter would rather wait for VW shares to decline and in addition make a profit from the options, Spiegel said.

Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank, lost 2.15 euros, or 2.5 percent, to 84.85 euros. Commerzbank AG, the country's second-largest, retreated 46 cents, or 1.7 percent, to 27.05 euros. Deutsche Postbank AG, Germany's biggest consumer bank by clients, dropped 1.25 euros, or 2.7 percent, to 45.90 euros.

Citigroup Inc. said it may have additional writedowns of as much as $11 billion on subprime-related investments. The company said yesterday Chief Executive Officer Charles Prince is stepping down after the largest U.S. bank warned of more writedowns on subprime mortgages and related securities, on top of more than $6 billion of charges reported for the third quarter.

``Citigroup has made quite clear that the subprime problems are not solved yet and investors are still worried about the extent to which it may affect the financial sector,'' said Oliver Opgen-Rhein, a trader at HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt AG in Dusseldorf. ``I believe that there is another bumpy week ahead of us.''

The following stocks also rose or fell in Germany. Stock symbols are in parentheses.
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