Around the World's Markets

FRANKFURT

THE BLUE-CHIP DAX index failed to break the trading range set earlier as Wall Street stocks started flat, and it struggled to hold modest gains ahead of the weekend.

By the close yesterday, the DAX index was down 0.57 per cent at 5,310.63 points.

Amid a dearth of other economic news, the DAX received slight support from a new set of German state inflation numbers which came in slightly higher than expected.