LONDON — European stock markets began the fourth quarter on a positive note, with the CAC 40 leading the upswing.
The French market rose 1.5 percent to 4,522.08, followed by the FTSE 100 in London, 1.3 percent to 6,142.62. The DAX in Frankfurt and the FTSE MIB in Milan were each up 1 percent to 9,761.24 and to 21,518.55, respectively.
The euro traded at $1.12, while the pound equaled $1.52 and the Swiss franc fetched $1.03 at 10:30 a.m. CET.
Retail and luxury stocks were mostly up, with the morning’s biggest gainers including Italian clothing manufacturer Aeffe, 3.6 percent to 1.42 euros; Ted Baker, 2.9 percent to 33 pounds; Metro AG, 2.1 percent to 25.19 euros, and Safilo Group, 2.4 percent to 10.70 euros.
Among the few stocks that lost ground were Koovs.com, which was down 4.7 percent to 0.41 pounds; Mulberry Group, 0.1 percent to 9 pounds; J Sainsbury, 1.7 percent to 2.57 pounds, and Tesco, 1.6 percent to 1.80 pounds.
