India, Jan. 31 -- German stocks are edging higher in cautious trade Friday morning with investors digesting the nation's retail sales and unemployment data, and looking ahead to the consumer price inflation report due later in the day.

The benchmark DAX was hovering around record highs a little while ago, gaining 34.36 points or 0.16% at 21,764.94.

Data from Destatis said retail sales in Germany dropped by 1.6% month-over-month in December 2024, following downwardly revised 0.1% fall in the previous month. On annual basis, retail sales rose 1.8% in December, but fell short of an expected increase of 2.5%. Retail sales rose by a downwardly revise 2.9% annually in November.

According to results of the labour force survey, 1.44 million peop...