BERLIN, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- German stocks were off to a shaky start on Monday, with the benchmark DAX index losing 63.11 points, or 0.45 percent, opening at 13,986.42 points.

The biggest winners among Germany's 30 largest listed companies at the start of trading were housing companies Deutsche Wohnen and Vonovia, increasing by 0.55 and 0.38 percent, followed by chipmaker Infineon growing by 0.37 percent.

Shares of Fresenius Medical Care fell by 1.90 percent. The German dialysis specialist was the biggest loser at the start of trading on Monday after investment bank Jefferies downgraded its rating for the company from "Hold" to "Underperform" and lowered its price target from 68 to 60 euros.

The number of business insolvencies in Germany in October last year continued to decline, the country's Federal Statistical Office announced on Monday. However, economic problems of many businesses were "not reflected yet" as the German government suspended obligations to file for insolvency to mitigate COVID-19's impact on the economy.

Orders of German machine manufactures in November 2020 recorded growth from within Germany as well as from abroad, the Mechanical Engineering Industry Association announced on Monday. Domestic orders grew by 1 percent while international orders were up seven percent.

The yield on German ten-year bonds went down 0.007 percentage points to minus 0.522 percent, and the euro was trading almost unchanged at 1.2212 U.S. dollars, increasing by 0.041 percent on Monday morning.