LONDON — Europe’s markets made modest gains in midmorning trading on Thursday, with the FTSE MIB in Milan the only one to lose ground.
The Italian market was down 0.1 percent to 17,225.04, while the CAC 40 in Paris climbed 0.5 percent to 4,304.70, and the DAX in Frankfurt was up 0.4 percent to 9,664.29. The FTSE 100 in London advanced 0.3 percent to 6182.21.
The euro traded at $1.14, while the pound fetched $1.41 and the Swiss franc equaled $1.04 at 11:15 a.m. CET.
Retail and luxury stocks were uneven, with Asos.com among the morning’s fallers. The stock was down 0.7 percent to 33.25 pounds after the company announced plans to axe its local operations in China.
The company said it would continue to serve its “growing China customer base” via Asos.com, offering them a product range of 80,000 compared with the 6,000 they can currently access. Nick Beighton, the company’s chief executive officer, said that going forward Asos would be servicing its Chinese customer base “in a more efficient, less costly manner.”
Among the other stocks that dipped were Safilo Group, 1.6 percent to 7.86 euros; Kering, 1.8 percent to 150.53 euros, and Jimmy Choo, 1.5 percent to 1.28 pounds.
Among the stocks to gain the most ground were J. Sainsbury, 2.5 percent to 2.87 pounds; Brunello Cucinelli, 1.6 percent to 16.31 euros; Koovs.com, 2.7 percent to 0.28 pounds, and Tesco, 1.3 percent to 1.94 pounds.