German chemicals giant BASF on Friday reported a huge second-quarter loss owing to a massive writedown and an auto sector slump generated by the coronavirus crisis. The group said preliminary results showed a 878 million euro ($990 million) loss for the quarter due in part to a drop in the value of its shareholding in Wintershall Dea because of a plunge in oil and gas prices. Core earnings meanwhile reached 226 million euros between April and June, down by 77 percent from the first three months of the year. The decline "was mainly driven by lower demand from the automotive industry - the company's most important customer industry" a BASF statement said. Sales were off by around 12 percent to 12.7 billion euros, the company said. Analysts at Factset had predicted an even steeper slump for the chemicals giant however, and its shares ended the day with a gain of 0.94 percent in Frankfurt while the DAX index of leading shares gained 1.2 percent overall. kih/hmn/wai