LONDON – Europe’s markets were in retreat in mid-morning trading on Tuesday after Britain’s parliament approved the Brexit bill, clearing the way for Prime Minister Theresa May to start negotiating a path out of Europe.
May is set to trigger Brexit talks at the end of the month.
The FTSE 100 in London was the only market that gained ground, climbing 0.1 percent to 7,374.19, after the pound fell to its lowest point against the dollar since Jan. 16.
The FTSE MIB in Milan was down 0.4 percent to 19,626.16, followed by the CAC 40 in Paris, 0.3 percent to 4982.96, and the DAX in Frankfurt, 0.1 percent to 11,982.43.
The dollar traded at $1.07, while the pound fetched $1.22 and the Swiss franc equaled $0.99 at 10:45 a.m. CET.
Retail and luxury stocks were mostly down, with the morning’s biggest fallers including Zalando, 1.5 percent to 36.24 euros; Jimmy Choo, 1.1 percent to 1.65 pounds; Debenhams, 1.6 percent to 0.53 pounds; Geox, 1.5 percent to 2.08 euros; Mulberry Group, 2.7 percent to 10.46 pounds and Marks and Spencer Group, 2.2 percent to 3.31 pounds.
Among the few stocks to gain any ground were French Connection Group, 5.4 percent to 0.37 pounds; and Gemfields, 1.2 percent to 0.44 pounds.