German shares were buoyed by a stronger dollar yesterday ending the day slightly firmer.

A firmer dollar helped to underpin export sensitive shares, particularly helping car manufacturing and machinery sectors. But the lack of trading volume, also due to a regional holiday in southern Germany and some European countries, kept the market from extending gains.

A plethora of six month corporate results also failed to spark interest in the market, which saw the value of traded shares on the previous day at 3.95 billion deutschmarks (£1.65 billion). The main market news of the day was German chemicals giant BASF announcing it had entered talks to sell a 51 per cent stake in its Kali und Salz AG to Canada based Potash Corp.

Car manufacturer shares, which have risen in recent days, were mixed as VV rose but Daimler Benz slipped and BMW was steady.

Markets in Paris and Milan were closed due to a public holiday.