Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Germany's benchmark DAX Index gained, led by Bayer AG, the country's second-biggest drug and chemical maker, and Deutsche Bank AG, Europe's third-biggest bank.

The 30-member DAX rose 15.99, or 0.4 percent, to 4142.99 as of 12:10 p.m. in Frankfurt. The HDAX Index of the country's 110 biggest companies climbed 0.3 percent to 2117.14. DAX December futures advanced 0.5 percent.

TUI AG led decliners on the DAX after WestLB AG sold its 31.3 percent stake in the tour operator. Infineon Technologies AG dropped after Merrill Lynch & Co. recommended investors pare holdings of the stock on concern about chip prices.

The following stocks are making gains or losses today. Stock symbols are in parentheses after the company names.

Bayer AG (BAY GY), Germany's second-biggest drug and chemical maker, rose 36 cents, or 1.5 percent, to 24.20 euros. The company may focus on blood pressure and cancer medicine as it aims to cut its research expenditures at its pharmaceutical unit, Financial Times Deutschland said, citing Erhard Gipperich, head of Bayer's works council.

Deutsche Bank AG (DBK GY), Europe's third-biggest bank by assets, rose 60 cents, or 0.9 percent, to 64.35 euros. The company may eliminate about 2,000 German jobs as part of Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann's pledge to boost profit, people familiar with the plan said. Deutsche Bank spokesman Ronald Weichert declined to comment.

Infineon Technologies AG (IFX GY), Europe's second-largest maker of chips, fell 13 cents, or 1.6 percent, to 8.20 euros. Andrew Griffin, an analyst at Merrill Lynch, cut his recommendation on the shares to ``sell'' from ``neutral'' and lowered his earnings-per-share forecast for fiscal year 2005 to 38 cents from 68 cents.

Griffin, in a research note published today, cited concerns about a decline profitability at Infineon's logic business, a lag in competitiveness at the memory unit, a surplus of 200-millimeter wafers and a likely drop in memory- chip prices as the company bolsters output.

KarstadtQuelle AG (KAR GY), Germany's largest department- store operator, fell 29 cents, or 3.8 percent, to 7.38 euros. The company has to make about 100 million euros in provisions for risks from its real-estate projects, Financial Times Deutschland reported, citing a prospectus for the company's share sale.

Linde AG (LIN GY), the German engineering company that makes industrial gases, added 25 cents, or 0.5 percent, 46.20 euros. The company won an order worth 115 million euros to supply BlueScope Steel Ltd. of Australia with gases.

SAP AG (SAP GY) rose 85 cents, or 0.6 percent, to 135.30 euros. The company plans to increase its market share in the U.S. in the next two years and hire fewer employees there in 2005, Reuters reported, citing U.S. head Bill McDermott. SAP is the world's largest maker of business-management software.

ThyssenKrupp AG (TKA GY), Europe's fourth-largest steel company, dropped 12 cents, or 0.7 percent, to 16.08 euros. The company said pretax profit may change little next year even with solid economic growth. Profit in the quarter through September rose to 264 million euros from 86 million euros a year earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations. Earnings lagged the 281.5 million-euro median forecast of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Triplan AG (TPN GY), which provides engineering services and software for drug companies, jumped 10 cents, or 14 percent, to 79 cents after it won an order worth 1.5 million Swiss francs ($1.3 million) from Novartis AG.

TUI AG (TUI GY), Europe's biggest tour operator, slid 15 cents, or 0.9 percent, to 16.05 euros. WestLB AG, Germany's No. 3 state-owned bank, sold a stake worth 936 million euros in TUI to Deutsche Bank AG, which will sell part of the holding to a group of Spanish hotel companies.

The shares today were lowered to ``reduce'' from ``hold'' at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, which cited concern the placement will create a so-called ``overhang,'' or a block of stock that might drive down share prices if sold.

To contact the reporters on this story: Balduin Hesse in Berlin at bhesse2@bloomberg.net. Christopher Fournier in Frankfurt at Cfournier3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 1, 2004 06:14 EST