LONDON — European stocks logged robust gains in midmorning trading on Wednesday.
The FTSE MIB in Milan was up 3.4 percent to 18,038.16, followed by the CAC 40 in Paris, 2.5 percent to 4,454.29. The DAX in Frankfurt rose 2.3 percent to 9,985.87 while FTSE 100 in London was up 1.4 percent to 6,330.28.
The euro traded at $1.14, while the pound fetched $1.42 and the Swiss franc equaled $1.04 at 11:30 a.m. CET.
Retail and luxury stocks were mostly up, with the morning’s biggest gainers including Koovs, 16.7 percent to 0.31 pounds. Last week, the online fashion retailer reported that revenues were up 189 percent on the previous year with site traffic increased by 110 percent.
Yoox Net-a-porter rose 4.3 percent to 27.75 euros. The company said Tuesday that it had granted stock options “valid for the subscription of 670,000 ordinary shares at a price of 25.983 euros per share as part of its 2015-25 stock option plan.”
Gemfields rose 3 percent to 0.42 pounds. Last week, the gem specialist reported that an auction in Zambia of rough emeralds raked in $33.1 million and 21 auctions have raised an aggregate of $412 million in revenues. “Our return to Lusaka has delivered another strong — and indeed record — result at a time when global commodity and diamond prices remain volatile and uncertain,” said Ian Harebottle, chief executive officer of Gemfields. “Demand for — and prices of — emeralds clearly remain as robust as ever and gemstone mining represents one of the healthier segments of the sector.”
Among the stocks that lost the most ground were Tesco, 2.6 percent to 1.91 pounds; and Jimmy Choo and Bonmarche Holdings, which both fell 1.6 percent, to 1.28 pounds and to 1.70 pounds respectively.