BERLIN, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- German stocks were off to a good start on Thursday, with the benchmark DAX index rising 70.56 points, or 0.61 percent, opening at 11,631.07 points.

The biggest winner among Germany's 30 largest listed companies at the start of trading was Deutsche Bank, increasing by 2.31 percent, followed by sportswear manufacturer Adidas with 2.26 percent and aircraft engine manufacturer MTU Aero Engines with 1.96 percent.

On Thursday, MTU announced that revenues in the first nine months of the year amounted to 2.96 billion euros (3.5 billion U.S. dollars), 13 percent below last year's figures. At the same time, EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) decreased by 44 percent to 310.8 million euros (364.28 million dollars). MTU stated that, "based on these results" there could no precise guidance for the full year be provided.

Shares of Beiersdorf fell by 1.94 percent. The German consumer goods company was the biggest loser at the start of trading on Thursday.

On Thursday, Fresenius Medical Care announced that sales in the third quarter were almost unchanged year-on-year, growing by one percent to 8.9 billion euros (10.43 billion dollars).

Germany's largest carmaker Volkswagen announced on Thursday that sales in the first nine months decreased by 16.7 percent to 155.5 billion euros (182.26 billion dollars). The operating result was 12.4 billion euros (14.53 billion dollars) below last year's figures due to "demand-related decline in sales."

The yield on German 10-year bonds went up 0.006 percentage points to minus 0.622 percent, and the euro was trading almost unchanged at 1.1749 dollars, decreasing by 0.02 percent on Thursday morning.