GERMANY'S benchmark DAX index ended 2.15 per cent lower at 5,632.51, having recouped ground lost in an earlier fall to a low of 5,634.55.

Retail group Metro bucked the trend, rising on denied reports that it was poised to bid for British food distribution group Booker. The giant German computer firm SAP, which started trading on the New York exchange this week, took a battering after Tuesday's US hi-tech falls, dropping DM73.