LONDON — European stock markets made modest gains in mid-morning trading on Friday, buoyed by U.S. and U.K. decisions to keep their historically low interest rates on ice.
The DAX in Frankfurt led the upswing in Europe, climbing 1 percent to 10,093.02, followed by the CAC 40 in Paris and the FSTE MIB in Milan, which each rose 0.9 percent to 4,718.93 and to 22,352.37, respectively. The FTSE 100 in London was up 0.8 percent to 6,424.67.
The euro traded at $1.13, while the pound fetched $1.53 and the Swiss franc equaled $1.03 at 11:30 a.m. CET.
Retail and luxury stocks were mostly up, with the morning’s biggest gainers including Tod’s, 2.5 percent to 81.20 euros; Adidas, 1.1 percent to 76.02 euros; French Connection Group, 3.6 percent to 0.29 pounds, and Tesco, 1.5 percent to 2.05 pounds.
Among the stocks that lost the most ground were Yoox Net-a-Porter Group, 1 percent to 30.21 euros; Gemfields, 2.9 percent to 0.51 pounds, and Aeffe, 1.7 percent to 1.58 euros.
Earlier this week, the Bank of England decided to keep interest rates on hold due to low inflation and the threat of deflation, while the U.S. Federal Reserve remains cautious about raising rates due to uncertain economic outlook and a slowdown in Chinese growth.
