(new: consideration of the entire sector, current prices.)

FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Positively received statements by Volkswagen (VW) boosted the entire automotive sector on Tuesday. The corresponding sector index was among the biggest gainers in the market-wide Stoxx Europe 600 in the afternoon, up 1.2 percent, but remained within the trading range of the past few days. VW preference shares continued the previous day's gains and rose by 6.3 percent in the DAX, after having slipped to their lowest level since the beginning of December on Friday in the face of the week-long downward trend.

Traders referred to VW statements from a telephone conference with analysts, according to which the latest business development obviously gives reason for optimism. With the jump in the share price, the shares left the 21-, 50- and 100-day lines for the short to long-term trend behind them. The shares of sports car subsidiary Porsche AG, rival Mercedes-Benz and suppliers such as Dax neighbor Continental and France's Valeo also recovered./gl/he