Europe open: LVMH, Remy Cointreau results boost Stoxx

European markets opened higher on Friday as luxury stocks led the way and investors digested the European Central Bank’s decision to hold rates steady, although more gloom from a consumer survey in German tempered the mood.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.33% at 480.11. Germany’s DAX was down 0.32% after the GfK/NIM survey showed an unexpected fall in consumer confidence as inflation deterred people from major purchases.

The consumer sentiment index dropped to -29.7 in February, from a downwardly-revised -25.4 in January and well below the consensus -24.5, said the GfK institute and Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions (NIM).

"If there were any hopes of a sustained recovery in sentiment, these were dashed in January," said Rolf Buerkl, consumer expert at the NIM. "The consumer climate suffered a severe setback at the beginning of the year."

In equity news, luxury and high-end spirit stocks surged after upbeat results from LVMH, which reported a 10% rise in fourth-quarter sales late on Thursday.

Remy Cointreau surged after posting a slightly smaller-than-expected decline in third quarter sales.

The sentiment boosted sector peers such as Richemont, Moncler, Campari, Diageo, Pernod-Ricard and Christian Dior.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com