LONDON – European markets made small gains in early-afternoon trading on Friday, with the FTSE MIB in Milan the only market to lose ground, slipping 0.8 percent to 18,797.18.
The FTSE 100 in London and the DAX in Frankfurt were both up 0.3 percent to 7,252.05 and to 11,680.07 while the CAC 40 was flat at 4826.74.
The euro traded at $1.07, while the pound fetched $1.25, and the Swiss franc equaled $1.00 at 2:15 p.m. CET.
Retail and luxury stocks were uneven, with the morning’s biggest gainers including Zalando, 1.3 percent to 37.78 euros; Kering, 2.1 percent to 229.10 euros after the company reported a near 17 percent uplift in net profit for 2016, and Italia Independent Group, 5.1 percent to 4.47 euros.
Among the afternoon’s biggest fallers were Jimmy Choo, 3.5 percent to 1.51 pounds; Boohoo.com, 1.2 percent to 1.40 pounds; and L’Oréal S.A., 2.3 percent to 170.05 euros after it was reported earlier this week that it is mulling selling its struggling The Body Shop division.