LONDON — European stock markets made small gains in midmorning trading on Wednesday, and retail and luxury stocks were also on the rise.
The FTSE MIB in Milan advanced 0.6 percent to 22,713.13, while the FTSE 100 in London and the DAX in Frankfurt were each up 0.5 percent to 6,425.06 and to 11,317.07, respectively. The CAC 40 in Paris climbed 0.4 percent to 4,935.77.
The euro traded at $1.06, while the pound fetched $1.51 and the Swiss franc equaled $0.97 at 11:45 a.m. CET.
Retail and luxury stocks were on the upswing, with the morning’s biggest gainers including Yoox Net-a-porter, 5.4 percent to 34.29 euros after the group announced it had broken two sales records, on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
The group said in a statement that Friday and Monday marked its highest and second-highest sales days, respectively, on record. Black Friday sales were up 82 percent compared with the corresponding day in 2014.
North America accounted for the greatest share of sales, followed by the U.K. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, North America also achieved the highest sales growth, with a 101 percent increase compared with the same weekend last year.
Other stocks on the uptick included Gemfields, 4.6 percent to 0.40 pounds; Asos.com, 3.5 percent to 34.35 pounds; Moncler, 2.5 percent to 15 euros, and Salvatore Ferragamo, 2.2 percent to 23.26 euros.
Among the few stocks that lost ground in midmorning were MySale Group, 1.5 percent to 0.49 pounds, and Kering, 1.4 percent to 159.95 euros.