Prices on the German stock market are likely to continue to decline on Thursday.

Disillusionment over the trade agreement between China and the US is compounded by growing concerns about a possible Israeli attack on Iran. For security reasons, the US, an ally of Israel, is reducing its embassy staff in Iraq. There are fears that the Islamic Republic's leadership could order retaliatory strikes against US bases in the region in the event of an Israeli attack on its arch-enemy.

This mix of circumstances could result in the leading index DAX DE0008469008 experiencing its fifth consecutive day of losses. The X-Dax DE000A0C4CA0 signaled the DAX down 0.8 percent to 23,764 points one hour before trading began. Overall, the DAX continues to move in a broader sideways trend, explains Martin Utschneider of Finanzethos. "The medium-term risk remains technically limited to 23,408 points."

The Eurozone's leading index, the EuroStoxx 50 EU0009658145, is also expected to be weaker on Thursday.

A week ago, the DAX reached a record high of 24,479 points. "The DAX has lost steam," says market strategist Thomas Altmann of asset manager QC Partners.

Allianz shares DE0008404005 lost one percent in premarket trading on Tradegate. Investment bank Barclays GB0031348658 has recommended underweighting the shares of the DAX heavyweight in the portfolio.

SAP DE0007164600 shares fell by almost one percent. They have thus far failed to benefit from optimistic statements made by competitor Oracle US68389X1054 the previous evening regarding investments in cloud infrastructure. Oracle's share price rose by almost eight percent in the US after-hours trading.

Higher sales targets from Dutch chip manufacturer BE Semiconductor (NL0012866412) may also be pushing the industry's share prices here, as have those from Suss Microtec DE000A1K0235 and Aixtron DE000A0WMPJ6. BE Semiconductor's share price jumped ten percent before the market opened.