German stocks opened lower on Wednesday as rising oil prices weighed on sentiment, with the DAX falling 0.5% to 25,879 points in early trading. The MDAX for mid-cap stocks also gave up 0.5% to 32,388, while the EuroStoxx 50 index lost 0.6%.
Traders were expected to remain cautious ahead of the European Central Bank's rate decision on Thursday, when a second interest-rate increase this year is widely anticipated.
Oil prices surged after the U.S. military said it had attacked and destroyed five Iranian crude tankers, describing them as part of a "shadow network" financing Iran's Revolutionary Guard. The Brent benchmark climbed to $100 a barrel, adding to concerns about energy costs pressuring corporate margins and consumer spending across the euro zone.
Among individual names, the Deutsche Börse announced it would issue €600 million in convertible bonds to fund general corporate purposes and liabilities. Its shares fell 2.1%.
Deutsche Bank downgraded Beiersdorf to "Sell" from "Hold," sending the personal-care company's stock down 1.7%.
SAP rose 1.5%, recovering from the previous session's decline triggered by renewed Wall Street anxiety over the impact of artificial intelligence on the software industry.
Defense stocks lagged broadly, with Rheinmetall, Renk, Hensoldt, and OHB each dropping between 1.5% and 3%.
