Europe: Stocks wobble at the start of trading

[LONDON] European stock markets wobbled at the start of trading on Friday with London and Paris pushing upwards but Frankfurt lapsing into negative territory.

The British capital's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top blue-chip companies rose 0.5 per cent to 5,812.60 points, aided by news of rising retail sales and upbeat third-quarter results from Barclays bank.

In the eurozone, the Paris CAC 40 rose 0.3 per cent to stand at 4,865.82 points.

On the downside, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index began Friday with a marginal loss of just under 0.1 per cent to stand at 12,533.96 points.

AFP