The further escalation of the Middle East war is likely to cause slight losses on the German stock market at the start of trading on Monday.

The X-Dax DE000A0C4CA0 signaled the DAX down 0.1 percent to 23,491 points one hour before the start of trading. This would at least temporarily hold the leading index at an important support level just above 23,400 points, and would also remain above its interim low of 23,360 points, to which it fell on Friday in the initial reaction to the Israeli attack.

The Eurozone's leading index, the EuroStoxx 50 EU0009658145, is expected to be largely unchanged. Market observers see the markets currently in "geopolitical crisis mode," because in addition to the war in Ukraine, there is now another crisis in the Middle East that is causing renewed nervousness. This is somewhat distracting from the usual agenda, such as this week's interest rate decision by the US Federal Reserve.

According to Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management, the fact that stock markets are still holding up quite well despite the losses and investors aren't in "panic mode" is due to oil prices. Although they continued to rise, they only rose slightly at the start of the week. For example, the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route, is still open.

The spiral of violence in the war between arch-enemies Israel and Iran continued over the weekend. Israel again targeted the Islamic Republic with several waves of airstrikes, primarily aimed at destroying Iran's nuclear program. Meanwhile, according to the military, Israel was again attacked with missiles from Iran overnight.

However, analyst Helima Croft of the Canadian bank RBC also sees energy supply "clearly in the crosshairs of the conflict." The risks of a serious supply disruption in a prolonged war scenario would increase.

In Germany, shares from the defense industry remain in focus. On the Tradegate trading platform, shares of Rheinmetall DE0007030009 traded a good one percent above Friday's Xetra closing price.

Among the other individual stocks, analyst firm Jefferies attracted attention with skeptical assessments of Brenntag DE000A1DAHH0 and Smyrise DE000SYM9999. Regarding the latter, a manufacturer of fragrances and flavors, expert Charlie Bentley is cautious about the important pet food business, which has historically driven above-average growth compared to competitors. However, key trends here are threatening to weaken. Symrise shares fell by almost four percent on Tradegate.

Brenntag shares lost almost two percent on Tradegate. Expert Chris Counihan pointed to changes at the top management level. He therefore expects the chemicals distributor to begin planning new corporate paths only towards the end of the year.