German equities slumped on Tuesday on escalated risk-aversion in the markets as Moody's cut its EU credit outlook to 'negative' and may downgrade AAA region's rating as debt crisis continued to rage. However, hopes for easing still provide slight support for European shares. The German DAX Index slid 0.51% to trade at 6,982.63. Only two in nine sectors included in the index gained. The top-performers were utility companies, with E.ON and RWE climbing 0.54% and 0.63%. Meanwhile, telecommunication firms were flat, with Deutsche Telecom advancing 0.10%. The company plans to embark on its start-up investment program to diversify the business, thus covering falling revenues in telephone industry. On the downside were consumer goods and services. Merck tumbled 1.00% after the firm announced that it is set to cut 10% of its staff by 2015.