Oct 23 (Reuters) – European stocks edged lower on Friday as luxury firm Kering’s shares slumped after results, while higher oil prices and political uncertainty in France added to the cautious mood.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.13% at 636.50 points by 0718 GMT, after logging its biggest one-day drop in three weeks on Thursday and putting the index on course for a weekly decline.
Kering slipped 10.4% after third-quarter sales at its flagship Gucci brand fell, undermining hopes of a recovery plan.
On the flip side, Holcim gained 5.2%. The Swiss cement maker raised its full-year earnings forecast after reporting better-than-expected quarterly sales and profit.
Optimism over generally strong European earnings season has been overshadowed by concerns over social unrest in France, pushing the yield on its 10 year-benchmark note to a 24-year high this week, while a sell-off in AI linked stocks also weighed.
Oil prices, which also kept sentiment fragile, climbed more than 1% with Brent crude trading at multi-month highs.
(Reporting by Avinash P in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
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