German shares almost unchanged at start of trading on Wednesday

BERLIN, June 30 (Xinhua) -- German shares were almost unchanged at the start of trading on Wednesday, with the benchmark DAX index growing 9.51 points, or 0.08 percent, opening at 15,700.1 points.

The biggest winner among Germany's 30 largest listed companies was dialysis specialist Fresenius Medical Care, increasing 0.86 percent, followed by software company SAP with 0.79 percent and technology giant Siemens with 0.61 percent.

Shares of Volkswagen fell by 1.94 percent. The German carmaker was the biggest loser at the start of trading on Wednesday after a U.S. court ruled that the state of Ohio can pursue further penalties for systematic emissions manipulation beyond those already agreed at federal level.

Germany's unemployment rate in June fell by 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous month and stood at 5.7 percent, Germany's Federal Employment Agency announced on Wednesday. With around 2.614 million people without a job in Germany, unemployment numbers fell by 239,000 year-on-year.

The yield on German ten-year bonds declined 0.0060 percentage points to minus 0.1780 percent and the euro was trading almost unchanged at 1.1901 U.S. dollars, increasing by 0.01 percent on Wednesday morning.